The Perseverance rover's cameras have finally discovered some of the Mars 2020 landing system pieces that transported the rover safely to the ground, more than 13 months after it landed on Mars (on February 18, 2021). Perseverance's MastCam-Z captured the parachute and backshell images, which can be seen off in the distance, just south of the rover's present location.
Normally, the rover would have taken a little detour early in the mission to photograph the landing system's ruins. On the other hand, Perseverance had to navigate some treacherous terrain to reach South Sétah, a big part of Jezero Crater that the research team wished to explore. That was close to where the parachute had fallen, and the rover had finally arrived. Universe Today said the rover discarded the landing procedure so that the Skycrane could descend the rover to the surface on its wheels.
UNSPECIFIED: In this concept illustration provided by NASA, NASA's Perseverance (Mars 2020) rover uses its drill to core a rock sample and will store them in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future missions to retrieve in the area known as Jezero crater on the planet Mars. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
Perseverance Founds Its Own Parachute
According to IFL Science, the rover captured raw images of a parachute that looked to have landed on Mars this time. Here's how it appears, according to the engineer who took the photo on April 6.
Kevin M. Gill was the one who worked on the "chute" photographs. According to the photographer, rover took the photographs on Sols 403 and 404. For those unfamiliar with the term "sol," it refers to a day on Mars.
Sol 404: Parachute Found.@NASAPersevere Sol 404 pic.twitter.com/sExaxitYHu
— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) April 10, 2022
That site is just south of Perseverance's present location, which can be seen in NASA's useful live map - just over half a mile, according to our estimates. To put it another way, it's very possible that Perseverance's mast cam detected the jetsam more than a year after landing.
The rover has recently covered many areas, first retracing some of its previous path and then moving beyond the spot where its little Ingenuity Mars helicopter made its inaugural flight in April 2021.
ALSO READ: NASA Perseverance Rover Captures How Sound Travels on Mars
The scientists revealed that the parachute bears a strange message in a close-up image. The team decrypted the message's meaning: "Dare mighty things."
According to NASA, it was the slogan of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is presently in charge of the rover mission.
Perseverance Rover's Self-Driving Skills
The Mars rover was recently sighted using its self-driving system to investigate the whole Jezero crater, Phys.org reported.
Perseverance's continuous travel was ascribed to its AutoNav, an auto-navigation technology that aids the rover in recognizing dangers along the road. It also serves as a navigational aid as it travels to its destination on Mars.
Meanwhile, Futurism said that Perseverance is currently making its way to a rockier location, which geologists believe is the delta of a dried-up ancient lake bed it landed in the middle of, as part of its trip informally known as the "drive, drive, drive campaign."
While it isn't exactly traveling at breakneck speed, it just set a new daily distance record by crossing an astonishing 800 feet.
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