The Perseverance rover continues to explore Mars; Recently the traveler was traveling along the banks of an ancient river believed to have once fed a lake in Crater Lake. But then the rover encountered an area full of dangerous rocks, and the team controlling it had to make adjustments; He landed in a river bed, shortening his journey by several weeks. During the journey, he discovered many interesting geological formations.

The Ingenuity helicopter helped determine Perseverance’s route from above before making its final descent. Without him, travel slowed down; Mars is too far away to steer Perseverance in real time, so operators at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) can only steer it 30 meters per day based on images from the rover. The rest is down to the AutoNav system, which works well until the terrain becomes unpredictable.

But then the rover encountered rocks between which it could maneuver, but this would be slow and too dangerous, so it was decided to lower the rover into the old river bed. “The traffic stoppage put Perseverance several weeks behind schedule, so the team continued to search for a passage in the dunes where the robot could safely land on the ancient riverbed. Trying to overcome the dunes put the rover in danger of traffic jams, as happened with Spirit in 2010.” “They found the landing a few weeks ago.”– said JPL.

Once Perseverance went downhill, things went smoothly. During the first sol (Mars day), he traveled 200 m and reached an unexpected scientific target: Mount Washburn. This slight rise is in the middle of the river and is covered with unusual rocks. One of them turned out to be much lighter than the others – examination revealed the presence of pyroxene and feldspar. The object, called Atoko Point, is thought to have formed in a deep pocket of magma from a time when Mars was geologically active. Examining Atoko Point, Perseverance found a way out of the riverbed with only six left.

The rover reached the Bright Angel site on June 9, several weeks before attempting to pass through the rocks. The new area contains rock outcrops that may have been exposed by river erosion or sediments filling the channel. Perseverance is currently searching for a sample location.