PIA24744: The End of One Drive by Perseverance on the Floor of Jezero Crater
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars 2020 Rover
 Spacecraft:  Perseverance
 Instrument:  Navigation Camera (M2020) 
 Product Size:  2160 x 859 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA24744.tif (4.229 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA24744.jpg (240.6 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This image of a Martian vista in Jezero Crater, made from smaller individual images, was taken by NASA's Perseverance rover on July 3, 2021 (the 131th sol, or Martian day, of its mission). The rover's tracks from its autonomous drive that day are visible on the right. The images that compose the larger mosaic came from the rover's Navigation Cameras and were processed to enhance the contrast.

Perseverance has been exploring the floor of Jezero since it landed on Feb. 18, 2021.

A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and manages operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2021-07-21