Perseverance Rover Updates

These updates are provided by self-selected Mars 2020 mission team members who love to share what Perseverance is doing with the public. Dates of planned rover activities described in these blogs are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

NASA's Perseverance rover acquired this image of a field of bright white float rocks on the Jezero crater rim using its onboard Right Navigation Camera (Navcam).

Peculiar Pale Pebbles

3 min read

During its recent exploration of the crater rim, Perseverance diverted to explore a strange, scattered field of bright white rocks which sparked the interest of the team scientists.

Article1 week ago

Katie Stack Morgan and Nicole Spanovich with the NASA Here to Observe Program students and faculty from Kutztown University.

Mars 2020 Perseverance Joins NASA’s Here to Observe Program

2 min read

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission has recently joined the NASA Here to Observe (H2O) program, where NASA planetary missions are partnered with universities to encourage undergraduate students from historically marginalized groups to pursue a career in STEM.

Article2 weeks ago

Image taken by Perseverance of rocky slopes of the Jezero crater rim.

A Spooky Soliday: Haunting Whispers from the Martian Landscape

2 min read

The Perseverance rover lurks in the quiet, cold, desolate landscape of Jezero crater on Mars, a place masked in shadows and haunted by past mysteries. Built to endure the planet’s harsh conditions, Perseverance braves the thin atmosphere and extreme temperature…

Article3 weeks ago

A close-up color photo of the Martian surface shows pale orange, rocky ground, with a circular outline scraped into the ground covering the upper left quarter of the frame. Inside the circle, chipped areas reveal several bright white spots, as well as a small spot of pale green. Another, larger green spot sits outside the circle, in the far upper left corner of the image.

Red Rocks with Green Spots at ‘Serpentine Rapids’

2 min read

After discovering and sampling the “leopard spots” of “Bright Angel,” it became apparent that Perseverance’s journey of discovery in this region was not yet finished. Approximately 20 sols (Martian days) after driving south across Neretva Vallis from Bright Angel, the…

Article4 weeks ago

Image from Perseverance’s Right Navigation Camera, looking back towards rover tracks from past drives, into Jezero crater. The camera is located high on the rover mast, and here the rover is looking back in the direction of the Jezero crater floor.

Just Keep Roving

2 min read

Throughout the past week, Perseverance has continued marching up the Jezero crater rim. This steep ascent through the Martian regolith (soil) can prove to be slow driving for the rover, as the wheels can slip on the steepest areas.

Article1 month ago

Close-up view of Cheyava Falls natural surface on Mars where chunks of olivine (pale green) in the straight veins and leopard spots in the center are seen.

Perseverance Matters

2 min read

It is an important and exciting juncture in Mars exploration and astrobiology. This year, the SHERLOC instrument beat the odds and made one of the most exciting discoveries of the Mars 2020 mission.

Article1 month ago

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of a black-and-white striped rock using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was acquired on Sept. 13, 2024 (Sol 1268) at the local mean solar time of 12:40:29.

A Striped Surprise

3 min read

Last week, team scientists and the internet alike were amazed when Perseverance spotted a black-and-white striped rock unlike any seen on Mars before. Is this a sign of exciting discoveries to come?

Article2 months ago

NASA's Perseverance rover took a photo of the Mars terrain of a bedrock in exposed rocks on the rim.

Reaching New Heights to Unravel Deep Martian History!

2 min read

The Perseverance rover is reaching new heights as it ascends the rim of Jezero crater (over 300 meters in elevation higher than the original landing site)! The rover is now enroute to its first campaign science stop Dox Castle (image…

Article2 months ago

An image from the Martian surface shows light beige, rocky terrain under a sky that’s a cool, pale yellow and casts a haze across the scene. The camera’s-eye view from below the rover shows the robotic arm reaching for a large, flat rock just left of image center, and atop the rock is a circular indentation where it looks like a medium-sized coin was pressed into the dirt. A section of the rover blocks off the top quarter of the image frame, while a support rod stretches toward one of the rover’s wheels, at the right edge of the frame, where it’s viewed edge-on, so you can see the swirl of its spokes, and the ribbed tread of its wheel.

Margin’ up the Crater Rim!

2 min read

To conclude its exploration of the mysterious margin unit before it ascends the rim of Jezero Crater, Perseverance made one last stop this past week to investigate these strange rocks at “Eremita Mesa.” Since beginning its steep drive up the…

Article2 months ago

A color image from the Martian surface shows dunes extending from the left side of the frame down toward the bottom right corner, barely visible through a thick haze of pale yellowish-orange that covers the entire scene.

Persevering Through the Storm

2 min read

It's dust-storm season on Mars! Over the past couple of weeks, as we ascended the Jezero Crater rim, our science team has monitored increasing dust in the atmosphere — typically highest around this time of the Martian year.

Article3 months ago