Perseverance Rover

Why in News?

• The rover has identified a rock named “Cheyava Falls” that exhibits intriguing characteristics, suggesting it may have hosted microbial life billions of years ago.
• Cheyava Falls, an arrowhead-shaped rock, was found on the northern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley that once channeled water into Jezero Crater, where Perseverance is working. 
• It is rich in chemical signatures and structures that may have been formed by life when the area contained running water.
• The rover’s SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrumentdetectedorganic compounds in Cheyava Falls.
• These carbon-based molecules are considered the building blocks of life, although they can also be formed by non-biological processes.

About Perseverance Rover:

• Perseverance, nicknamed “Percy“, is a semi-autonomous rover the size of a small car designed to explore the surface of Mars.
• It is part of NASA’s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.
• Launch: It was launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• Landing: Successfully landed on the surface of Mar’s Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
  • The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet’s surface to be returned to Earth at a future date.
• Features:
  • It is about 3 metres long, 2.7 metres wide, and 2.2 metres tall.
  • It is about the size of a car but weighs only about 1,025 kilograms with all instruments on board.
  • Power source: Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG). It converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.
  • It has a rectangular body, six wheels, a robotic arm, a drill for sampling rocks, cameras and scientific instruments.

Q1: What is Ingenuity Mars Helicopter?

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a small, autonomous aircraft. that flew to Mars aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover. It was sent to Mars to perform experimental flight tests to determine if powered, controlled flight at the Red Planet was possible. Ingenuity’s mission is experimental in nature and completely independent of the rover’s science mission. Ingenuity was deployed to the surface on April 4, 2021.

Source: Perseverance rover finds rock that could reveal if Mars ever had life