About Perseverance Rover:
- Perseverance, nicknamed “Percy“, is a semi-autonomous rover the size of a small car designed to explore the surface of Mars.
- It is part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
- Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar’s Jezero Crater in 2021.
- It is the first rover to actually land in an ancient Martian river delta, located inside the Jezero crater.
- Objective: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
- The rover will be able to detect organic matter and minerals, map the chemical composition of rocks and sediments, and zoom in on distant rocks and rugged terrain for further inspection.
- It is the first rover to record sounds on Mars and broadcast them back to Earth.
- It is the first rover to create oxygen on Mars. Perseverance carries an instrument called MOXIE, which can generate oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere.
- Features:
- Perseverance is built from the same basic design as Curiosity, which landed on Mars about a decade before Perseverance.
- Power source: Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). It converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.
Key Facts about Ingenuity Helicopter:
- It is a small, autonomous aircraft.
- Objective: Technology demonstration to test the first powered flight on Mars.
- The helicopter rode to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover.
- It became the first aircraft in history to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet.
- Ingenuity uses solar power to charge its batteries and can operate autonomously.
