NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover returns from a hiatus and snaps stunning photos of Mars.
NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance, the size of a Mars car and helicopter, Ingenuity, had to be shut down recently because the red planet disappeared behind the Sun.
Late last month, Mars entered a “sun conjunction” position in its orbit. This phenomenon occurs when Mars and Earth move to either side of the Sun and all three are almost in a straight line.
“Sun conjunction” makes the distance between Earth and Mars will be the furthest. The Sun’s electromagnetic radiation will greatly affect communications between the probe, orbiter and ground control. Loss of signal due to the effects of electromagnetic radiation from the Sun is a common phenomenon, forcing NASA to suspend operations of most Mars rovers for safety reasons. Similarly, China’s Mars mission quickly halted its red planet exploration mission.
According to Space, after the signal break, the Mars rover of NASA and China has resumed communication with Earth. Perseverance even sent back photos of the six-wheeled robot waking up and continuing to explore Jezero Crater, a 45km-wide crater on the surface of Mars that had a lake and a river delta billions of years ago.
“I’m back to work, standing here between these two beautiful cliffs. I’m doing some imaging, weather research, chemistry experiments and getting software updates” – porcelain team members wrote on Perseverance’s official Twitter account on October 25.
Accompanying the post are two recent stunning photos of the terrain Perseverance is traversing. The rover has also taken several other photos since waking up. Perseverance carried the Ingenuity helicopter that landed on Mars on February 18 of this year. It was tasked with hunting for signs of life on ancient Mars and collecting dozens of samples to return to Earth in the future. The rover has retrieved two tubes of pristine Martian rock, and this will be humanity’s first interplanetary specimen returned to Earth in the future.
Meanwhile, the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity, is designed to demonstrate that aerial exploration is possible on the Red Planet. Ingenuity has also resumed operations, completing its 14th flight to Mars on October 24.
After the first five technology demonstration flights, Ingenuity moved on to a new mission designed to showcase the potential of Mars reconnaissance. NASA’s 1.8kg helicopter recently explored the terrain for Perseverance, having traveled 2.67km so far in Jezero Crater
