Mars looks more vivid than ever in new photo from Perseverance rover

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is sending back stunning images as it explores an ancient river delta in Jezero crater for signs of life

Space



15 June 2022

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Right Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was acquired on June 12, 2022 (Sol 466) at the local mean solar time of 12:20:39.

An ancient river delta photographed by NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

This alien landscape looks like a film set, but it’s a real picture taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Since landing on Mars in February 2021, Perseverance has been scouring the Martian landscape for signs of microbial life by taking samples, measurements and photographs. The rover has been exploring a region called the Jezero Crater, a 28 mile-wide impact crater that once hosted an ancient river.

This strange scene, taken by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera on 12 June, was probably formed over millions of years of geological activity related to that river, in a build-up of rocks and sediment called a delta. This area is a likely candidate for evidence of ancient life, if it existed.

It’s a golden age for high-fidelity photos of Mars: in addition to Perseverance, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is documenting the Martian landscape from above, while China’s Zhurong rover is exploring the Utopia Planitia plain to the east.

But these photos are a sideshow to Perseverance’s main mission – to document the Martian landscape and see whether it could have hosted life. It’s already made some important scientific discoveries, such as uncovering the history of Jezero’s rocks and water through radar, and measuring the speed of sound in the Martian atmosphere.

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source: newscientist.com