Science With Perseverance
Mars exploration at NASA "follows the water." Earlier missions had found that liquid water existed on Mars in the distant past. Perseverance’s older cousin, the Curiosity rover, explored the “habitability” of Mars. It found nutrients and energy sources that microbes could have used, and established that Mars indeed had regions that could have been friendly to life in the ancient past. Did life take hold on the Red Planet? Perseverance takes the next step by looking for the signs of past life itself.
Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater, a location on Mars that shows promising signs of a place that was likely friendly to life in the distant past. The rover’s goal is to study the site in detail for its past conditions and seek the very signs of past life. It is carrying out its mission to identify and collect the most compelling rock cores and other samples of Mars material, which a future mission could retrieve and bring to Earth for more detailed study. Perseverance also tests technologies needed for the future human and robotic exploration of Mars.
Perseverance’s Science Objectives
Perseverance has four main science objectives.- Geology: Study the rocks and landscape at its landing site to reveal the region’s history
- Astrobiology: Determine whether an area of interest was suitable for life, and look for signs of ancient life itself
- Sample Caching: Find and collect promising samples of Mars rock and soil that could be brought back to Earth in the future
- Prepare for Humans: Test technologies that would help sustain human presence on Mars someday
NASA Astrobiology
Perseverance, a NASA Astrobiology-focused mission, collects and stores promising samples of Mars rock and surface material from the Red Planet so that we can bring them to Earth in the future for detailed study via the Mars Sample Return campaign.
Perseverance carries seven primary science instruments:
An advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability and the ability to zoom. The instrument also helps scientists assess the mineralogy of the Martian surface and assists with rover operations.
A set of sensors to provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape.
An exploration technology investigation to produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide.
An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with high-resolution camera to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL provides capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before.
A ground-penetrating radar to provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface.
A spectrometer that provides fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scale mineralogy and detect organic compounds. SHERLOC is the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and provides complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload.
An instrument that provides imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. The instrument can detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNES/IRAP) France.