Mars Perseverance Sol 449 – Front Venstre Hazard Avoiding Kamera: Den samme steinen fortsatt i roverens fremre venstre hjul på sol 449, bilde ervervet 26. mai 2022 (Sol 449). Kreditt: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Hvordan velger du en stein på[{” attribute=””>Mars? Sometimes you don’t— it chooses you.
As we reported months ago, Perseverance acquired an unwanted hitchhiker — a rock — stuck in one of its wheels in February. What is surprising is that the rock is still there, riding on the left front wheel for over 5 miles. Fortunately, it isn’t doing any damage.
Mars Perseverance Sol 343 – Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera: A rock in the front left wheel of Perseverance on Sol 343, image was acquired on February 6, 2022 (Sol 343). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This is not the first time a rock has hitched a ride on a Mars rover mission. Some 18 years ago, a “potato-sized” rock found its way into the Spirit rover’s rear right wheel, and had to be dislodged. On the Curiosity rover, the front right wheel has periodically picked up its own traveling companion. While it’s unclear exactly how long these rocks stuck around, they tended to hop off after a few weeks. Perseverance’s current companion is therefore on its way to setting Mars hitch-hiking records!
MSL Curiosity had a rock stuck in its wheel in June 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance’s pet rock has seen a lot on its travels. Back on sol 341, we were still in our Crater Floor Campaign, where we examined rocks that are part of the “Máaz” formation, which we believe is made up of lava flows. If this pet rock could talk, it might tell us about the changes it’s noticed as we traveled back north through the Octavia E. Butler landing site, and then west, passing the spectacular remains of the former extent of the delta, “Kodiak,” on our journey to the western Jezero delta. We’re now in the Delta Front Campaign, and we just abraded what might be our first sedimentary rock. Perseverance’s pet rock is now a long way from home.
Mars Perseverance Sol 413 – Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera: Perseverance’s pet rock has had some great views of Kodiak, a delta remnant, along its travels. Image taken using the Front Left Haz Avoidance Camera (Hazcam), acquired on April 19, 2022 (Sol 413). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Where might this pet rock end its journey? It’s possible that the rock may fall out at some point along our future ascent of the crater rim. If it does so, it will land amongst rocks that we expect to be very different from itself. As one of our team members quipped this week, “we might confuse a future Mars geologist who finds it out of place!”
So: if you’re a Martian geologist from the future reading this, maybe a Martian graduate student tasked with mapping the historical site of Jezero crater: take heed. If you’ve found a rock that looks out of place, you might just be looking at the former pet rock of Perseverance!
Written by Eleni Ravanis, Student Collaborator at University of Hawa at Manoa.