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Perseverance’s mid-climb view of Jezero Crater
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Perseverance’s mid-climb view of Jezero Crater

This color-enhanced, high-resolution mosaic showing Jezero Crater on Mars was captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA’s Perseverance spacecraft as the rover climbed the crater’s western wall. Many of the sites the rover visited during its three-and-a-half-year exploration of Jezero can be seen, and the vehicle’s tracks are also visible.

The 44 images used to create the mosaic were taken on September 27, 2024, the 1,282nd. Mars day or sol of the Perseverance mission, taken. The rover was near a site the Perseverance science team calls “Faraway Rock,” about halfway up the climb.

Click here for Figure A for PIA26378
Figure A: Improved color – annotated
Click on the image for a larger version

Figure A is a version of the color-enhanced mosaic with annotations showing the distance (in kilometers) between the rover and nearly 50 marked points of interest.

Marked locations include, from left:

  • Tuff Cliff, a rocky outcrop in the same river channel (and about 480 meters east of it) where Perseverance discovered Cheyava Falls
  • Ingenuity’s final airfield, called Valinor Hills
  • “Beehive Geyser”, located on the east side of the “Margin Unit” and next to the Neretva Vallis canal
  • Bunsen Peak is where Perseverance recovered its 21st rock core
  • “Jurabi Point” is a “triple junction” where the blocky unit, the upper fan sedimentary rocks, and the marginal unit intersect
  • Both Perseverance and Ingenuity operate a “triple junction” in Gnaraloo Bay where the blocky unit, the upper fan sedimentary rocks and the marginal unit intersect
  • ” in December 2023

  • “Mandu Wall” is the location where the rover launched its fourth scientific campaign on September 7, 2023
  • “Hans Amundsen MW,” which stands for “Memorial Workspace,” is the location where Perseverance collected the rock sample taken from “Pelican Point” on September 25, 2023
  • “Three Forks” is the name of the location where Perseverance deposited ten of its filled tubes in December 2022 and January 2023
  • Belva Crater was photographed by Perseverance on April 22, 2023
  • “Pinestand” is an isolated hill that mission scientists believe was formed billions of years ago by a deep, fast-flowing river. This site, consisting of stacked layers of sediment, was photographed but not visited by the rover.
  • The landing site is where the rover touched down on February 18, 2021
  • “Cape Nukshak” is a river channel that the mission considered as a route to the river delta. The team chose a different river-canal route called Hawksbill Gap.
  • “Enchanted Lake” was the place where the mission was able to get a close look at sedimentary rocks for the first time
  • The flat hill nicknamed “Kodiak” was photographed by the rover on April 18, 2021

Click here for Figure B for PIA26378
Figure B: Improved color – cropped
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Figure B is a cropped version of the color-enhanced mosaic.

Click here for Figure C for PIA26378
Figure C: Improved color – cropped – commented
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Figure C is an annotated and cropped version of the color-enhanced mosaic.

Click here for Figure D for PIA26378
Figure D: Natural color
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Figure D is a natural color version of the mosaic.

Click here for Figure E for PIA26378
Figure E: Natural color – annotated
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Figure E is an annotated version of the natural color mosaic.

Click here for Figure F for PIA26378
Figure F: Natural color – cropped
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Figure F is a cropped version of the mosaic in natural colors.

Click here for Figure G for PIA26378
Figure G: Natural color – cropped – commented
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Figure G is an annotated and cropped version of the mosaic in natural colors.

In the color-enhanced versions of the mosaic, the image’s color bands have been edited to improve visual contrast and highlight color differences.

Arizona State University is leading the operation of the Mastcam-Z instrument and is collaborating with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego to design, manufacture, test and operate the cameras, and with the University’s Niels Bohr Institute of Copenhagen for the design, manufacture and Responsible for checking calibration targets.

A primary goal of 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 rocks and regolith (broken rock and dust).

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

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

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by Caltech for the agency, built the Perseverance rover and manages operations.

More information about Perseverance: science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/

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