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What's the Story
NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring the southern edge of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river channel on Mars, since January.
The rover's journey has now taken it to an area of scientific interest known as “Bright Angel.”
The area derives its name from its light-coloured protrusions, which are believed to be ancient rocks exposed by the river that once flowed here.
Journey to Bright Angel
The drive to Bright Angel was not without difficulties. The rover unexpectedly encountered a field of rocks that made a relatively easy trip challenging.
“The average drive that was over a hundred meters per Martian day dropped to just tens of meters. That was disappointing,” said Evan Graser, an engineer who helped plan Perseverance's route.
To overcome this obstacle, the team decided to reroute Perseverance through the dunes and river path.
The challenge facing autonomous navigation systems
Perseverance relies on AutoNav, an autonomous navigation system.
While previous Mars rovers required full control from Earth, Perseverance's guides can give it a general route, and AutoNav handles the minute-by-minute steering.
However, when the rocks got so big that AutoNav couldn't handle them, the rover had to find another route.
The solution was found in a region of Martian dunes located north of Perseverance's path.
Rerouting of Perseverance leads to scientific opportunities
Despite the risk of getting stuck in Martian sand – which the Spirit rover also faced in 2009 – the dunes were small and spread out enough for Perseverance to make its way through them.
After entering the river channel, Perseverance was able to travel about 200 meters per Martian day.
The new route also presented scientific opportunities, including the discovery of Mount Washburn, a rocky hill that scientists speculate is likely formed from an underground magma pool.
Perseverance begins analyzing Bright Angel rocks
After reaching a reef around the channel’s northern edge, Perseverance turned west and, after four Martian days, it finally reached Bright Angel.
The rover has begun analyzing rocks in the area, raising the question of whether it should collect a rock sample from this interesting Mars region.
This analysis will reveal more information about the geological history of Mars and possibly reveal more evidence about the planet's past.