Posts: 5240 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-24-2021 09:07 PM
The Perseverance rover captured footage of one of the two Martian moons shining in the planet's skies. The 17-second time-lapse was posted on the rover's Twitter account on Friday (Aug. 20).
Sky watching is fun no matter where you are. I took this short time lapse movie to watch for clouds, and caught something else: look closely and you'll see Deimos, one of two moons of Mars.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 50326 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-05-2021 10:04 AM
From the Perseverance rover's Twitter account:
I've got it! With better lighting down the sample tube, you can see the rock core I collected is still in there. Up next, I'll process this sample and seal the tube.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 50326 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-06-2021 07:07 PM
From the Perseverance rover's Twitter account:
It's official: I've now captured, sealed, and stored the first core sample ever drilled on another planet, in a quest to return samples to Earth. It's the first in a one-of-a-kind Martian rock collection.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5240 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-10-2021 04:35 PM
The first two rock samples examined by NASA's Mars rover Perseverance give scientists a firm belief that water inundated Jezero Crater for a sustained period of time, the agency announced Friday.
"We determined salt granules in the rock indicate it was exposed to water," Julia Goreva, a NASA scientist for the rover program, said in a news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The rocks, drilled Monday and Wednesday, came from an igneous or volcanic rock. The agency previously knew that water once filled the crater, but not for how long.
The salt deposits mean NASA can now rule out a sudden "flash in the pan" water event, the agency said in a news release.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 50326 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 11-16-2021 12:44 PM
From the Perseverance rover's Twitter account:
Another little piece of Mars to carry with me.
My latest sample is from a rock loaded with the greenish mineral olivine, and there are several ideas among my science team about how it got there. Hypotheses are flying! Science rules.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 50326 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-20-2022 12:38 PM
The Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera system to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars' two moons, eclipsing the Sun.
It's the most zoomed-in, highest frame-rate observation of a Phobos solar eclipse ever taken from the Martian surface.
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3587 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 04-20-2022 03:18 PM
Impressive! And it helps to refine the actual shape of Phobos, possibly allowing an improvement of the density estimate.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1210 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 04-20-2022 06:56 PM
Maybe sometime in the future Percy could record a Transit of Earth across the face of the sun.
Although I suspect that our planet's angular diameter might appear to be too small, from Mars, to be recorded.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 5240 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-20-2022 07:57 PM
Sunspot activity captured on the solar disk is just as impressive.
Headshot Member
Posts: 1210 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 11-21-2022 06:37 PM
Did Perseverance manage to get Sample 14 sealed and stowed? I have not seen any news about it in nearly three weeks.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 50326 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 04-24-2023 08:23 PM
In early 2022, Perseverance picked up a rock in its left front wheel that refused to leave... until now. From SuperCam team member Gwénaël Caravaca (via Twitter):
Farewell "Rock Friend."
We found out in latest Hazcam we have lost our pet rock in the front left wheel of Perseverance. It spent 427 Sols with us (more than an Earth year!), and traveled about 10 km since Sol 341.
posted 08-24-2021 09:07 PM
advertisement