Perseverance rover marks one centesimal Mars day on the Red Planet

NASA’s Perseverance rover has now called the Red Planet dwelling for 100 Martian days.

The auto-sized Perseverance and its runt helicopter buddy Ingenuity landed collectively inside Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18. That makes as we speak time (June 1) the 100th Martian day, or “sol,” for the robotic duo. (One sol lasts about 24 hours and 40 minutes, a runt longer than an Earth day.)

The first 100 sols were motion-packed. As an instance, Perseverance has already examined all of its cameras and scientific instruments, beamed dwelling more than 75,000 pictures, captured the first-ever precise audio on the Martian surface, supported and documented Ingenuity’s historic flight marketing campaign, generated oxygen from the carbon dioxide-dominated Martian atmosphere and begun touring to its first “exploration zone,” the rover team wrote in a Twitter post as we speak time. (The oxygen era comes courtesy of an instrument called MOXIE that is designed to direct tech that might per chance well support humanity salvage a foothold on Mars finally.) 

In pictures: NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover mission to the Red Planet

100 sols are correct the launch, nonetheless as there may per chance be arrangement more excitement to advance support. Perseverance has correct began to focal level on its possess science mission, which may per chance last now now not now now not as a lot as one Mars year, or 687 Earth days. That mission has two predominant targets: to hunt for indicators of old Mars life and fetch and cache dozens of samples for future return to Earth. 

Jezero is a sizable do of residing to attain such work, mission team contributors have confidence said: The 28-mile-huge (45 kilometers) crater hosted a astronomical lake and a river delta billions of years ago. 

Ingenuity’s work is now not always in actuality completed, either. The 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) chopper aced its month-long, 5-flight  skills-demonstrating marketing campaign and has embarked upon an prolonged mission designed to showcase the doable of rotorcraft to support as scouts for Mars rovers and human explorers.

Ingenuity conducted the predominant flight of this prolonged mission on Can also merely 22, encountered its first patch of rough Red Planet air in the technique: The helicopter suffered a glitch that fast interrupted the circulation of pictures from its navigation camera to its onboard computer. But Ingenuity powered thru the paradox, touchdown safely near its designated touchdown design. 

Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Sizable Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book in regards to the compare alien life. Apply him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Apply us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Fb.