As of: February 19, 2024, 4:50 a.m
By: Tanja Banner
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The “Perseverance” rover could urgently use a mechanic on Mars.
Since that is not possible, NASA is looking for other ways to repair it.
Pasadena – Since the latest NASA rover landed on Mars in February 2021, “Perseverance” has been collecting data on the red planet and sending it to Earth.
There have also been some groundbreaking discoveries.
For example, the rover has discovered clear evidence of ancient water on Mars or found organic material on the red planet.
To do this, “Perseverance” produced oxygen on Mars using an instrument.
NASA wants to use the Perseverance rover to search for traces of life on Mars
The US space agency NASA sent the rover to Mars to take a closer look at Jezero Crater - a former lake with an attached river delta where "Perseverance" revealed the history of water on Mars.
The rover will investigate what conditions used to exist on Mars - and whether there may once have been life there.
To do this, the NASA robot examines rock samples using, among other things, cameras, spectrometers and lasers.
But now there is a problem with that.
The “Sherloc” instrument is located at the very front of the robotic arm of the NASA “Perseverance” rover.
He uses it to analyze Martian rocks when the instrument is working.
(Archive image) © NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
According to NASA, a team is currently examining a rover instrument called “Sherloc”.
It is located at the very front of the robot arm of “Perseverance” and consists, among other things, of a laser that is aimed at interesting Martian rocks.
“Sherloc’s” camera and spectrometer can analyze the rock – always looking for signs of former water or organic material.
NASA's Perseverance rover cannot use lasers on Mars
But this is apparently not possible at the moment, as NASA describes on its website.
Currently, one of the two covers that prevent dust from accumulating on the lens of “Sherloc” is partially open.
“In this position, the coverage affects scientific data collection operations,” NASA says.
The problem has existed since the beginning of January.
“With the cover in its current position, the instrument cannot use its laser and cannot collect spectroscopic data,” writes the US space agency.
A team examined the rover to find the cause and possible solutions.
To better understand how the cover's motor behaves, the team sent commands to the instrument that change the power supply.
However, a solution has not yet been found.
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NASA is looking for a solution for the “Perseverance” rover on Mars
However, there is a way out for spectroscopic data: they can be collected with “Watson”, a color camera from “Sherloc”.
This fact shows that NASA has a lot of experience in designing Mars missions: The instruments for “Perseverance” were developed in such a way that the rover can still fulfill its tasks even if one of the seven instruments fails.
The “Pixl” and “SuperCam” instruments can also collect spectroscopic data.
Accordingly, NASA doesn't panic, but instead tries to calmly find a solution to the problem.
That's not easy - after all, a mechanic can't just fly to Mars and repair the rover there.
However, there is good news: “Perseverance” is based on the successful NASA rover “Curiosity,” which has been conducting research on Mars for more than ten years.
If “Perseverance” has similar endurance, the rover will still have several years to explore Mars.
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