End of the problem for Perseverance who sets out again to attack the Martian rocks!

Perseverance is back on track! After several weeks at a standstill, the martian rover was able to resume drilling activities as announced by Nasa January 31, 2022. During a sampling on December 29, small pebbles blocked the sample storage process, giving the engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They had initiated a system unlocking mission on January 14, before a silence radio more than ten days. But on January 27, the American space agency published a press release declaring the success of the cleaning operation started thirteen days earlier.

Back to normal for Perseverance

Pereverance’s cleanup maneuver proved complex. The rover was positioned on a light outcrop, facilitating a tilt of the rover at 13.2° to the left. JPL then ordered a rotation of the carousel allowing the sample tubes to be stored in the rover chassis, the latter being blocked by two pebbles. To finalize the operation, Perseverance activated its drill whose vibrations finished dusting off the mechanism.

On the account Twitter of Perseverance, NASA indicated on January 31 that the rover turned back, returning to the level of the rock issole which had been the subject of the 6^and sampling mission in December 2021. Perseverance did not encounter any obstacles, thesampling went off without a hitch. NASA has published a series of photos allowing to observe the second hole dug in the rock as well as the pieces collected by the drill.

All the lights therefore seem to be green for Perseverance, which should calmly continue its epic journey on Mars and resume its journey to new sampling locations. The rover, currently located in the South Séitah regionwill continue its wanderings in the Jezero crater in the weeks to come.

The Perseverance rover has a pebble in its shoe: how will it remove it?

Article of Schaepmeester’s Dorianpublished on 01/20/2022

For more than a week, the Mars rover Perseverance has been experiencing a technical problem. During rock sampling, debris would have blocked the deposit of samples in the frame of the device. NASA has unveiled its plan to restore the functioning of the Perseverance mechanism.

It has been almost two weeks since the rover Perseverance ceased operations on Mars. On January 7, 2022, NASA released a statement explaining that small pebbles were blocking the mechanism allowing the robotic arm to store the samples from the 6^and drilling took place on December 31, 2021. On January 14, the American space agency announced that it had launched a cleaning operation for the mechanism, clearing away the small rocks by… emptying the tube from the last collection mission.

How to Restore Perseverance

The incident occurred during the storage procedure of the sample obtained during the 6^and collection mission of Martian rocks. the robotic arm, including drill and dust tube, was to insert the latter into a carousel guiding the samples to the rover’s chassis and its storage system. But Perseverance’s arm soon encountered a resistance, preventing him from inserting the tube into the carousel. Many photographs of the Watson camera made it possible to identify some rock debris, blocking the mechanism.

NASA and the engineers of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) thus initiated a “cleaning” procedure on January 12, by first emptying tube 261, from which breakaways the rocks responsible for the blockage. So the rover poured the samples onto the mars soil, making it possible to preserve the tube for future drilling of the “Issole” rock, the target of the sampling mission of December 29. ” I never imagined that we would have to perform this maneuver », wrote Jennifer TrosperJPL project manager on Perseverance.

Last weekend, the rover performed a mitigation, attempting to reduce the amount of debris blocking the carousel. This was activated twice, while the cameras imaged the maneuver to determine if the stones had fallen to the ground. For the time being, NASA has still not given any new information concerning Perseverance and the operations of the previous weekend. The rover is currently still immobilized in the area of South Setahsouth of Jezero Crater.