NASA ’s Perseverance wanderer has given us a twirl and create a beautiful 360 ° panorama of a Martian region love as Jezero Crater . It ’s believed this vast catchment area was once flooded with water supply , make it a promising location to look for evidence of living .
Thevideois a photomosaic of 993 individual ikon charm by Perseverance ’s Mastcam - Z instrument over the course of three twenty-four hour period in November 2023 .
Perseverancesuccessfully landedin the 45 - kilometre ( 28 - mile ) across-the-board Jezero Crater on February 18 , 2021 alongside a gutsy little buddy : an go with robotlike whirlybird calledIngenuity . The pair ’s mission is to study the bouldery Martian surroundings , scouring for signs of biosignatures that could potentially show thatMarsonce had conditions favorable to microbial lifespan .
Jezero Crater is an particularly promising land site because scientist believe it was a250 - time ( 820 - foundation ) late lakefilled with organic textile around 3.5 billion age ago . If extraterrestrial microbes ever live on Mars , this would be an ideal property to look .
In December 2023 , Perseverance celebrated its 1,000th Martian day of the mission – but the science isstill descend in thick and fast .
Even within this latest 360 ° shot , it ’s possible to moil out evidence of Mars ’ churning past and its potential for microbial life .
“ In this area , dissimilar rock layers record unlike parts of the crater ’s history . The monotonous , light - biased rocks were deposited on the bank of a river flowing slowly across the landscape , ” Ken Farley , a geochemist on the Perseverance project , read in the video ’s accompanying sound .
“ The Boulder in the aloofness were deposited later , in what was likely a raging cloudburst . And if this peculiar outcrop see your aid , it did ours as well . It does n’t look like deposit at all – perhaps it ’s a leftover of a lava flow , now mostly eroded away , ” explains Professor Farley .
Do n’t fret : Perseverance and Ingenuity are n’t too lonely on the Red Planet . NASA ’s Curiosity Rover is also currently function forth on Mars , albeit on another part of the planet ring Mount Sharp . Just a few months ago , Curiosity captured a stunning 25 - flesh video showing the progression of aMartian 24-hour interval from dusk until sunup .
