On Saturday, February 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover will celebrate its second anniversary on the surface of Mars. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered rover has been studying the geological features of the Red Planet and collecting samples since arriving at Jezero Crater in 2021. NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) is at the center of the first step of the Mars sample return campaign. Scientists want to study Martian samples using powerful laboratory equipment on Earth to look for signs of ancient microbial life and to better understand the processes that shaped the Martian surface.

“Anniversaries are a time to reflect and celebrate, and the Perseverance team does a lot of both,” said Perseverance Project Scientist Ken Farley of the Cal Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “Perseverance has researched and collected data on hundreds of interesting geological features, collected 15 rock cores and created the first repository of specimens on another world. We hope to replenish that number soon, as the next science campaign, known as Upper Fan, kicks off on February 15.”

In addition to the rock cores, Perseverance collected two regolith samples and an atmospheric sample and sealed the three witness tubes. Numbers play an important role in the rover’s mission life, not only because the team includes an impressive number of scientists (who usually don’t mind numbers) and engineers (who love them), but because statistics provide the best and most effective insight. vehicle trends and performance.

For example, the mission can tell you not only that the rover has covered 9.3 miles (14.97 kilometers), but also that its left front wheel had made 9,423 revolutions as of February 14. They can tell you not only that the MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Site Sourcing Experiment) technology demonstration produces 3.25 ounces (92.11 grams) of oxygen, but it also has the Gas Dust Removal Vehicle (gDRT) with a small gas compression device on it. a robotic arm – blasted 62 times to remove dust and particles left over from the abrasive work.

“We’re dealing with a lot of numbers,” said Steve Lee, Perseverance project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We collect them, evaluate them, compare them, and take them to our loved ones for family dinner more often than we’d like to admit.”

That said, here are some of the latest statistics for Perseverance’s first two earth years on the Jezero surface. Some will seem vague and others more urgent, but they all emphasize how fruitful the task is.