Figure 1NASA's Perseverance rover took this image of the Martian rock nicknamed "Rochette" on Aug. 27, 2021, shortly after it abraded a circular patch known as "Bellegarde." The patch is about 0.39 inches (10 millimeters) deep and about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter.
The main image was taken by one of the rover's Hazard Avoidance Cameras. A secondary image in which part of the rover deck is visible shows the abrasion patch from the point of view of a Navigation Camera on Perseverance's mast. Both images were taken on the 185th sol (Martian day) of the rover's mission and processed to enhance contrast.
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.
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
