On March 6th, NASA’s Perseverance probe took its first step on the surface of Mars. In an exploratory activity, the truck-sized robot moved 13 feet (4 meters) forward from the landing site, then turned 150 degrees to the left, retreated 8 feet (2.5 meters), and photographed it on the surface of Mars. The first track left.

Figure 1: NASA Perseverance probe left the first track on the surface of Mars

All six wheels of Perseverance have power support, which technically makes it the first six-wheel drive vehicle. The top speed of this rover is 0.01 miles per hour (0.016 kilometers or 16 meters). This has made it the "scud" of all Mars rover.

On Friday, U.S. local time, Anais Zarifian, an engineer on the Perseverance's mobility test bench, said: "Perseverance travels five times faster than Curiosity, which means it can travel 656 feet per Martian day ( 200 meters."

At the same time, the navigation system on the Perseverance can process images captured by the camera faster, basically "you can think while driving."

Figure 2: The Perseverance Mars rover shows a montage image of the robotic arm

On February 18, Perseverance successfully landed in Jezero Crater on Mars. On Friday, NASA also announced that the exact landing site had a new official name, Octavia E. Butler Landing Site, named after an influential science fiction writer. Butler is a resident of Pasadena, California, where the Perseverance Mission Control Center is located.

Perseverance project scientist Kathryn Stack Morgan said: "Butler’s protagonist shows determination and creativity, which makes her very suitable for Perseverance’s mission and the challenges that need to be overcome. Butler Inspired and influenced the planetary science community and many others, including those who are usually underrepresented in the STEM field."

In the first few weeks on Mars, Perseverance also passed other milestones, including successfully manipulating its robotic arm for the first time and capturing its movements in a series of images.

Figure 3: The view of the Jezero Crater Delta, the mound in the distance is about 1600 meters away from the rover

Robert Hogg, deputy project manager for Perseverance, reported that the Mars rover’s wind sensor has also been successfully deployed. It has downloaded and installed a 16MB software update that will manage 140 simultaneous tasks on its computer. .

Next, Perseverance will continue to test and calibrate tools that will be used to find signs of ancient life, extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, and achieve other scientific goals. Perseverance will take longer to actually start, and to prepare for the experimental flight test plan of the Mars mini-helicopter "Original".

The Perseverance mission control team has begun to develop a possible route for the rover to explore the ancient river delta, which is believed to have flowed into the Jezero Crater. The next upgrade of Perseverance will take place on March 10. (Little)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate