Science –Technology

Goal of the Perseverance rover’s third year on Mars is to discover prehistoric microbial life

Published

1 year ago

February 20, 2023

The nuclear-powered, six-wheeled rover touched down on Mars on February 18, 2021,and has since been investigating the planet’s geological aspects

In essence, the rover is moving slowly inside the Jazero crater.
The rover has been told to conduct remote science because researchers want to use strong lab equipment on Earth to analyse materials from Mars.

The Perseverance rover’s two years of operations on Mars have ended successfully. The SUV-sized rover has already been operating on the Red Planet for three years. It is still searching the area for evidence of ancient microbial life, which might show that the planet ever supported life.

The Jazero crater, where the rover’s is now located, is thought to have formerly been the source of a vast lake of water on the planet. On February 18, 2021, the nuclear-powered, six-wheeled rover touched down on Mars. Since then, it has been exploring the planet’s geology and gathering samples.

NASA just finished constructing the first depot on another planet by releasing 10 titanium tubes with Martian soil and rock samples that will be transferred to Earth by upcoming missions for more in-depth research. To better understand the processes that have created the surface of Mars, scientists wish to analyse Martian samples using sophisticated lab equipment on Earth.

The rover’s third-year mission calls for it to conduct remote science and capture pictures of a location in Jezero Crater named “Jenkins Gap.” According to NASA, Jezero Crater will have bright skies and a high temperature of – 14 degrees Celsius, which will be ideal for continuing research activities.

The Perseverance team is doing a lot of reflecting and celebrating as it is its anniversary. With perseverance, hundreds of fascinating geologic features have been examined, data acquired, 15 rock cores have been taken, and the first sample depot on another planet has been established. We anticipate quickly increasing that total with the launch of the upcoming scientific campaign, called “Upper Fan,” on February 15,” said Ken Farley, a scientist working on the Perseverance project.

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The rover has travelled 14.97 kilometres across Mars in its two years there. What’s even more exciting for the crew is that the Gas Dust Removal Tool (gDRT) has puffed 62 times to clean leftover dust and particles from rock-abrading activities, and the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) technology has created 92.11 grammes of oxygen.

“We work a lot with numbers. The deputy project manager for Perseverance, Steve Lee, said, “We gather them, assess them, compare them, and more often than we like to admit, bore our loved ones with them at a family dinner.

Amazingly, the rover has already taken 1,66,000 pictures.

Is the Perseverance rover still working?

On February 18, 2021, at 20:55 UTC, confirmation that the rover had successfully landed on Mars was received. Perseverance has been operating on Mars for 710 sols (730 Earth days, or 2 years) as of February 18, 2023. NASA gave the landing place the name Octavia E. Butler Landing after the rover touched down there.

Has the Perseverance rover found anything?

NASA scientists say the Mars Perseverance rover has found biologically-interesting rocks in an ancient lake bed that could indicate microbial life existed on the red planet

What is Perseverance rover and why is it important?

The Perseverance rover, which is located far from the Mars Curiosity Rover (NASA’s last rover to the Red Planet), allows NASA to investigate new regions of the planet Mars and even start testing equipment to assist future manned missions to Mars.

Has NASA found life on Mars?

“And even though NASA hasn’t discovered any signs of life right now, we have a tonne of evidence that Mars may have sustained life in the past, according to Graham. “Numerous pieces of evidence suggest that Mars originally had a vast ocean and an atmosphere that was capable of supporting life.

Did Mars ever had water?

The red planet once had a global ocean, rivers, and lakes. Then, the solar wind — charged particles from the Sun — stripped away the Martian atmosphere. As the planet’s protective shield faded, all liquid water on the surface evaporated into space, merged with minerals, or fled underground to become water ice.

Does any planet have life?

Among the stunning variety of worlds in our solar system, only Earth is known to host life. But other moons and planets show signs of potential habitability.

Is there any other planet with water?

Evidence points to oceans on other planets and moons, even within our own solar system. But Earth is the only known planet (or moon) to have consistent, stable bodies of liquid water on its surface.