NASA's Perseverance Completes One Year on Mars: Here Are the Rover's Top Achievements

Over the past year, Perseverance has surpassed many challenges as well, including when rock samples choked its systems in December.

By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 19 February 2022 12:40 IST

NASA's Perseverance Completes One Year on Mars: Here Are the Rover's Top Achievements

Perseverance has collected six rock samples over the last one year

Highlights

Perseverance is a six-wheeled rover
It roughly weighs 1,025 kilograms
It is collecting rock samples to send back to Earth

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is celebrating the completion of its one-year stay on the Red Planet by learning to run on its rocky surface. The roughly 1,025-kg machine has accomplished several milestones, including new distance records, since its touch down on the rocky surface a year ago on February 18, 2021. And now, it is trying to gain confidence and speed to take on challenging tasks, which include collecting more rock samples in the coming weeks as it runs towards its new science campaign at a new destination away from Jezero Crater, which contained a lake billions of years ago.

Over the past year, Perseverance has collected six rock samples so far, served as a base station for the Ingenuity helicopter, and tested the first prototype oxygen generator MOXIE on Mars, NASA said. The six-wheeled machine is collecting rock samples to send them back to Earth during a future crewed mission to the Red Planet. Scientists would then be able to study the samples, primarily looking for signs of ancient life on Mars.

These rock samples will offer insights into the formation of Jezero Crater, said Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, in a statement. “Each one is carefully considered for its scientific value.”

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Perseverance recently set the record for covering the greatest distance (245.76 metre) in a single Martian day, or sol, by any rover on the planet. This milestone was accomplished thanks to its self-driving function.

But the robot's stay on the Red Planet has not been without its share of challenges. While transferring rock samples to its storage, Perseverance had choked its systems in December. However, NASA engineers were able to remove the impediment from its belly and get the rover back to normal functioning.

Stem Cell Transplant Said to Have Cured First Woman HIV Patient

Perseverance will now collect two more samples in the coming weeks from the “Ch'ał” rock type (named with the Navajo term for “frog”). If samples of these rocks are returned to Earth, scientists think they could estimate the age of Jezero and the lake that once resided there.

Can Realme 9 Pro and 9 Pro+ win their respective segments? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.