How does "The first robotic servicing mission on the surface of Mars" sound to y'all?
Well, if you're #NASA#JPL, this awesome headline could be yours for the low cost of a few nitrogen puffs!
This thread is just me fantasizing how Perseverance could potentially use its gDRT to clean the dusty solar panel and camera lens on Ingenuity and make history with this extraordinary servicing operation! 🧵
At the time, we suspected that some problem had occurred which was preventing it from proceeding with the plan, and I made a note to follow up on this when the relevant reports would be published in the #PDSAnalystNotebook .
Looks like Mars rover Perseverance abraded the flat rock it was looking at a few days ago. It then used the SHERLOC instrument to analyze the exposed rock patch.
SHERLOC, the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals uses cameras, spectrometers, and a UV laser to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and maybe signs of past microbial life.
That sounds interesting but is quite risky, as the terrain is difficult and the rover would have to drive up into the Neretva riverbed, and across the regolith megaripple field to get a good visual of the heli, and that's assuming the #MarsHelicopter is still on the top of one of those megaripples.
The maps show visibility and terrain. Contours are 1m.
From time to time #Perseverance uses its fixed down looking camera, or EDL_RDCAM, to record movies of, well, the ground 🥴 , probably while the ground radar RIFMAX does its thing. And let's not forget that it's the same camera that captured those epic images during the rover's descent to the Martian ground.
Debayered, processed EDL_RDCAM
Image captured from RMC 51.0030
Sol 1094, LMST: 12:55:27
Two days ago the Perseverance rover captured these pictures of the Mastcam-Z calibration target with her arm-mounted WATSON camera.
I love these images that show the rover hardware, perhaps it's time for another full selfie? 📸
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Simeon Schmauß
On Sol 998, #Perseverance moved farther southwest about 30m, to RMC 47.3056, apparently back toward Jurabi Point.
The map shows its new estimated location along with the (guessed) path it took and a new prediction for its next drive (green dashed line), just for fans.
This localization is based on metadata from just one image.
EDIT: The path for last drive changed to 'estimate' and is being updated as more metadata become available.
As I hoped before (https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/111823379796757059), he said that they are going to first wiggle the rotor and take a movie (!) of the action, and then slowly spin the rotors to bring the other two blades into view that haven't been visible so far and assess their condition.
#Perseverance captured a movie of the faulty SHERLOC_ACI cover, presumably while trying to move it. The portion of that movie that has been downlinked so far, seen below, shows no perceptible movement, other than that of the shadow. The real time duration of this movie is 16 minutes.
219 frames of MCZ_LEFT, FL: 34mm
looking NNW (332°) from RMC 50.0524
Sol 1051, LMST: 13:31:59
Another sol, another drive for #Perseverance. The rover is approaching the northern edge of the rocky Margin Unit, getting closer to where #Ingenuity is located after its eventful #Flight72, but it still has no line-of-sight to the #MarsHelicopter. It may be in a better position for a first look in a sol or two, as seen in the visibility plot below.
A new #NASA status update now confirms that "[...] a SHERLOC issue during these proximity science activities left the arm unstowed and prevented us from driving away. The team has since stowed the arm, #Mars2020 engineers have been working to diagnose the issue, and the rover has resumed driving."
How does #Perseverance manage to drive on the rough Martian terrain and achieve record speeds?
Tyler Del Sesto has worked on the software for Perseverance’s AutoNav for seven years. He used to think that sometimes the obstacles placed before Perseverance’s Earthly twin OPTIMISM during testing in the Mars Yard at #NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory went a little overboard. He changed his mind after Snowdrift Peak.
#Perseverance moved to a new location on Sol 793, at RMC 39.1036, about 10m south of its previous location. Looks ready to climb that low hill and then onward to Mount Julian, where it will be able again to receive #Ingenuity's transmissions 🙂
This location estimate is based on metadata received with the few images downlinked so far. The white track shown is a guess based on the attitude of the rover.
Seems like Mount Meeker is posing a challenge for
Perseverance's coring drill. This timelapse from yesterday shows the rover is trying to drill into the rock, but the drill assembly appears to slip away.