PIA25965: Perseverance Rover Looks West
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars 2020 Rover
 Spacecraft:  Perseverance
 Instrument:  Mastcam-Z 
 Product Size:  9000 x 819 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  Malin Space Science Systems
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA25965.tif (13.43 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA25965.jpg (613.3 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

click here for larger version of figure A for PIA25965
Figure A - Enhanced

click here for larger version of figure B for PIA25965
Figure B - Anaglyph

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Main image - maximum resolution version, 38382 x 3493 pixels (65 MB)

Figure A image - maximum resolution version, 38382 x 3493 pixels (85 MB)

Figure B image - maximum resolution version, 37757 x 3453 pixels (61 MB)

Composed of 53 images, this mosaic looks west toward the rim of Mars' Jezero Crater on July 8, 2023, the 847th Martian day, or sol, of NASA's Perseverance rover mission. The rover's Mastcam-Z instrument captured the images when Perseverance was about halfway through a boulder field that was 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) wide.

Figure A is an enhanced-color view that exaggerates subtle color differences in the scene.

Figure B shows the same mosaic, now composed of 106 images, in an anaglyph that can be viewed with red-blue 3D glasses.

Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.

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).

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.

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.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Image Addition Date:
2023-08-31