NASA’s Perseverance rover has started its most ambitious journey yet, climbing the rim of Jezero Crater on Mars. The steep and challenging ascent marks the rover’s fifth science campaign, dubbed the Crater Rim Campaign.
The climb is expected to be a 1,000-foot elevation gain, with the rover summiting the crater that once harbored a huge lake and river delta. This new phase of exploration will provide researchers information to prepare for future Mars missions.
Perseverance’s previous campaigns focused on locations including the Crater Floor, Delta Front, Upper Fan, and Margin Unit. The next milestone is exploring the region between the Margin Unit and the crater’s rim, where the rover will encounter rubble deposited by an asteroid impact that created Jezero crater almost 4 billion years ago.
Without orbital images of the area, the team won’t be able to anticipate potential roadblocks. Instead, Perseverance will rely on its Mastcam-Z multispectral and SuperCam long-distance imaging tools to identify geological features in real-time as it traverses the crater rim.
The rover’s ascent is a crucial step towards collecting samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life and storing them for future return to Earth. Since landing on Mars in 2021, Perseverance has collected 25 samples, including Martian rocks, loose surface material, and atmospheric samples.
Source: https://www.space.com/nasa-perseverance-mars-crater-rim