![]() ![]() However, because Perseverance has a different objective, it is fitted out with different science instruments and capabilities.įor example, Perseverance is designed to seek possible evidence of ancient martian life, so includes instruments that can make microscopic-scale maps of elements and organic molecules in rocks which could provide such evidence. Perseverance is built from the same basic design as Curiosity, which landed on Mars about a decade before Perseverance. What's the difference between the Perseverance rover and other Mars rovers? Farley is the project scientist for Mars 2020 where he leads the science team and worked with engineers to design and build the Perseverance rover. Keck Foundation Professor of Geochemistry in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. We asked Ken Farley, Mars 2020 project scientist a few frequently asked question about the Perseverance rover. "The ranger trigger lets us land closer to areas of scientific interest, shaving miles - potentially as much as a year - off a rover's journey." Perseverance FAQs answered by an expert ![]() "Terrain-relative navigation enables us to go to sites that were ruled too risky for Curiosity to explore," said JPL's Al Chen, Perseverance's EDL lead. As the rover descended through the Martian skies, it used a computer to compare the landscape with pre-loaded terrain maps, guiding itself to a safe landing site and making corrections on the way down.Īnother new feature, known as range trigger, used location and velocity information to determine when to open the supersonic parachute, narrowing the landing ellipse by more than half. For example, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the Mars 2020 mission, developed new landing technology called terrain-relative navigation. Both rovers hit the Mars atmosphere at tremendous speeds, deployed a supersonic parachute after friction slowed them down enough, and were finally lowered gently to the red dirt on cables by a rocket-powered "sky crane."īut Perseverance had some EDL upgrades that Curiosity did not enjoy. Perseverance also used the same entry, descent and landing (EDL) strategy as Curiosity. "These will gather science data in ways that weren't possible before." Perseverance's seven instruments "build on the success of MSL, which was a proving ground for new technology," said George Tahu, NASA's Perseverance program executive. Curiosity's main task involves assessing the habitability of ancient Mars, whereas Perseverance will hunt for evidence of ancient Martians. But those instruments are quite different than the gear aboard Curiosity because the two rovers have divergent goals. Like Curiosity, Perseverance has a rectangular body, six wheels, a robotic arm, a drill for sampling rocks, cameras and scientific instruments. (1,025 kilograms), Perseverance weighs less than a compact car. Perseverance is about 10 feet long (not including its robotic arm), 9 feet wide, and 7 feet tall (about 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide and 2.2 meters tall). Roughly 85% of Perseverance's mass is based on Curiosity's "heritage hardware," saving NASA time and money and reducing risk considerably, agency officials have said. Like Curiosity, the Perseverance rover was built by engineers and scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. If Perseverance looks familiar, that's because the robotic explorer is largely based on its predecessor, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, which landed in August 2012 and is still going strong today. ![]() Join our forums here to discuss the Perseverance rover on Mars.
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