In this episode, Perseverance captures 2 objects passing the Sun,
drops all its sample tubes and finally begins the journey to the ancient river channel.
This video is part of a series,
documenting the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter every 3 months.
It s Sol 621, the 2nd Earth Year anniversary of the mission, and as fate would have it,
another partial solar eclipse on Mars. The moon seen here is Phobos,
the larger of the 2 Martian moons. On Mars, partial solar eclipses are a
fascinating sight, as the small moons create a distinctive silhouette against the Sun,
quite different from the total solar eclipses we experience on Earth.
When compared to the eclipse captured back on Sol 397,
you can see that the angle has changed significantly.
The rover isn t given much time to celebrate the anniversary and
is busy drilling a core sample from a site known as Hidden Harbour.
The sample is retrieved without problem, sealed and stored in the rover s belly.
On Sol 628, Phobos comes back around for another partial eclipse.
If we compare it to the eclipse captured around 1 Martian week ago, we can see that the angle
has changed slightly. This data will help scientists refine their models of the orbits
of the Martian moons, and possibly help with landing spacecraft there in the future.
The rover turns its attention towards the ground. The team at NASA would like
to obtain a sample of Martian sand. The rover has driven slightly into this
sand dune, and the team thinks it would give valuable data.
For the purpose of collecting sand, a special drill head was included on the rover.
It pulls material up along the shaft, leading it to collect in the holes.
Perseverance retrieves two samples from the ground, which now looks like a smiling face.
Studying the Martian dust and sand, which is also known as regolith,
will help engineers design equipment for future Mars missions, and protect
astronauts from potential health risks, such as the presence of toxic perchlorate.
Meanwhile, Ingenuity takes off for flight number 35.
It s the highest flight so far, with the helicopter reaching an altitude
of 14 metres, or about 46 feet. The colour camera onboard the helicopter
is angled towards the delta and captures some great images.
Another Sol on Mars, and yet another partial eclipse. This time it s
the smaller of the 2 moons, Deimos. Partial eclipses are very common on Mars;
however, the rover will never capture a total solar eclipse like we do on Earth,
due to the size of the moons and their distance from the planet.
The rover now has a very important task, to try and find a location suitable for depositing the
samples it has collected so far, before continuing to go up and on top of the delta. The samples will
be picked up and returned to Earth sometime in the 2030 s, by another NASA mission.
Ingenuity is beginning to close in on Perseverance.
However, the team at NASA want the helicopter to scout a small dune field.
The helicopter takes off for the 36th time, and scouts the dune field,
before returning to its original position.
It manages to capture some great colour images of the dunes from above.
Perseverance is driving to a site known as 3 Forks , to
make the first sample cache on another planet.
An image taken on Sol 650 shows that the pet rock still travels with us,
seen here in the rover s left front wheel. On Sol 653, the rover makes history by dropping
the first of the samples at 3 Forks . The plan is to create a store of samples here,
in case the rover itself cannot deliver samples to a lander which will visit in the future.
If anything happens to the rover, a future helicopter will retrieve these samples.
After dropping the sample, the rover takes pictures of it to
make sure it isn t in the path of its wheels. Also, the team needed to make sure the sample hadn
t landed on its head, which would make it more difficult for future missions to retrieve. In
testing done on Earth with the Perseverance twin Optimism, this happened about 5% of the time.
In the event a sample does land on its head, the rover can simply push it over with its arm.
With this initial success, the rover gets busy dropping the rest of the samples.
You may have noticed that the rover always drills 2 core samples from the same area.
It will drop only 1 of each sample in this area, keeping 1 of each on board,
in the case it can deliver the samples directly to a future lander.
While Perseverance is busy depositing samples, Ingenuity has been flying again, and now rests
within the dune field that it scouted. In this image, the helicopter can be seen
resting on a dune. The 2 explorers are now within sight of each other.
Perseverance celebrates its success by taking
a selfie. There are many samples lying on the floor, how many can you see?
This image showcases the ground-breaking achievements made by the rover, and provides
a visual testament to the incredible progress made in space exploration.
The rover deposits a total of 10 samples in the area. This was the primary mission objective,
and it has been a resounding success.
In this mosaic, all the tubes are visible.
Now that this business is finished, the rover will head up on top of the delta,
through what appears to be an ancient river channel.
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