When NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in February 2021, it brought with it a little friend from Earth, the Ingenuity helicopter. With the little drone flying around, making his own titles and generally surprising us all, the rover explores all by himself – or so we thought.
As can be seen from images from the hazcams of the rover, Perseverance has had a permanent satellite since early February 2022.
This image in front of the hazcam on the left, taken on February 6, 2022 (Sol 343 of the mission), shows a huge stone caught in the left front wheel of the Perseverance. The inserted image reveals what this same rock next to the rover wheel might be on January 31 (Sol 337) Credit: Scott Sutherland / NASA / JPL-Caltech
Perseverance raised a Martian pet!
According to the mission team, this rock has been ridden for more than 8.5 kilometers. This voyage took him from the south of the Séítah region, north through the landing site of the Octavia E. Butler and then around the rugged terrain of the area to the base of the river delta.
This map shows the path of permanence from February 18, 2021 to June 17, 2022, along with inserted images of the “Pet Scale” that accompanies it from at least February 6, 2022. The yellow lines are the flight paths of the Ingenuity helicopter. to date, and “pins” indicate the location on June 17 (Sol 471) of both the rover and the helicopter. Credit: Scott Sutherland / NASA / JPL-Caltech
“This is not the first time a rock has been taken on a rover mission,” wrote Eleni Ravanis, a student and staff member of the Perseverance mission at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, in a June 2 update of the mission.
“About 18 years ago, a potato-sized rock hit the rear right wheel of the Spirit rover and had to be moved,” Ravanis explained. “On the Curiosity rover, the front right wheel periodically lifted its own satellite. Although it is not clear exactly how long these stones remain, they tend to bounce back in a few weeks. Therefore, the current Perseverance satellite is about to set a record for hitchhiking on Mars! “
Although the rock is large, perhaps 20-25 cm in diameter, Ravanis says it does not cause any damage to the Perseverance wheel. Instead, it probably just makes a lot of noise as it bumps and glides around as the rover moves.
Perseverance’s Pet Rock on March 7, 2022 (Sol 371) as the rover drove through the landing site of the Octavia E. Butler. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
The future for the pet is uncertain. He may continue to fight Perseverance for a day or maybe another week, maybe months. However, when it is finally displaced, it may be a puzzle for any Mars explorer who finds it in the future.
The rocks and sediments on the floor of Jezero Crater probably formed under very different conditions from those in the delta. Unless the pet rock stays with Permanence indefinitely, wherever it may be found in the future, it will be an anomaly – a rock very different from those around it, which is simply not there under any normal circumstances.
This composite image shows the delta of the river on the crater Jezero, as seen from the navigation camera (navcam) of Perseverance on June 7, 2022 (Sol 461), while the rover was sitting at the base of the ridge. The minerals and rocks contained in the stratum sediments here are from the upper reaches of the crater washed away here by the river flow billions of years ago. They are expected to be quite different from those found at the bottom of the crater. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Also, depending on how far into the future this is, the rover could travel a considerable distance, with the wind eventually erasing its tracks through dust and sand. Therefore, there may be no context for how the rock got there.
“So, if you’re a Martian geologist of the future reading this, maybe a Martian student tasked with mapping the historic site of Jezero Crater: Beware,” Ravannis wrote. “If you’ve found a rock that looks out of place, maybe you’re just looking at Permanence’s former pet!”
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