The Perseverance Mars rover has completed a month-long climb to the rim of the Jezero crater. This was reported by the scientific team of the mission at a briefing held on December 12.
The ascent took 3.5 months. During this time the rover climbed to a height of 500 meters, which turned out to be quite a challenge for the Earth’s messenger. It had to overcome difficult terrain and climb 20-degree gradients, making stops along the way for scientific observations.
Now that the vehicle has reached the top, it will start its fifth scientific campaign, named the Northern Rim. As part of it, the rover will study the northern part of the southwestern section of the crater rim. In the first year, the rover is expected to visit four sites, take several samples and travel about 6.4 kilometers.
According to the researchers, the new campaign marks a shift from studying the rocks that filled the Jezero crater after it formed (it originated 3.9 billion years ago) to those ejected from deep within Mars at the time of impact. They are pieces of early Martian crust and are some of the oldest rocks in the Solar System that will undergo study. It will help us understand what Mars looked like in the distant past.
Perseverance’s first target will be a rocky formation 450 meters up on the other side of the rim. It is named Witch Hazel Hill and is a layered outcrop where each layer is like a different page in a Martian history book. After this, the rover will move about 3.2 kilometers away from the rim to explore a site called Lac de Charmes. It intrigued the scientific team because, being located on a plain, it was likely not greatly affected by the formation of the Jezero crater.
After leaving Lac de Charmes, the rover will head about 1.6 kilometers back to the rim to explore the outcrop of large blocks known as megabreccia. They may represent ancient rocks shattered during the impact that led to the formation of Isidis Planitia: a huge 1,200-kilometer-long crater that lies at the junction of the Red Planet’s two major regions.
Provided by NASA
