This week on Mars, Perseverance formally kicked off the Margin Marketing campaign by arriving at Mandu Wall and performing the primary abrasion of a rock inside the marginal carbonate unit! Reaching this vacation spot was no straightforward feat- it took Perseverance a number of makes an attempt to efficiently navigate a ~350 meter lengthy path by a area of boulders, utilizing a mixture of autonomous and directed drives to dodge hazards within the tough terrain. The lithological boundary at Mandu Wall marks an vital waypoint alongside the climb in direction of Jezero Crater’s rim, because it includes an abundance of carbonate-bearing rocks hypothesized to have shaped by precipitation, on account of aqueous exercise that dominated the once-watery Martian floor a number of billion years in the past. Water-driven alteration of igneous minerals is one other potential mechanism that would clarify the carbonate’s origin.
The Margin Marketing campaign is devoted to exploring the origin, alteration, and astrobiological relevance of the marginal carbonates that circle the higher fringe of Jezero Crater. How did these rocks kind? How have they modified since they shaped, and what can their alteration inform us in regards to the evolving Martian atmosphere? What’s the relationship between the marginal carbonates and the rocks that encompass them? Might any of those carbonates include potential biosignatures or details about habitability? These are just some of the scientific questions motivating the Margin Marketing campaign.
This fourth section of the Mars 2020 mission is anticipated to take about 230 sols (days on Mars, equal to about 8 Earth months) and can see Perseverance rove throughout the marginal carbonates and as much as Jezero Crater’s rim, stopping to conduct distant and proximity science observations and drill as much as 4 cores alongside the way in which. Upon reaching the rim, Perseverance will transition to the “Inside Rim Marketing campaign” centered on exploring this higher boundary across the fringe of Jezero, earlier than lastly exiting the crater and persevering with on with the “Past Jezero Marketing campaign.” Within the close to time period, proximity science observations of the brand new “Amherst Level” abrasion patch at Mandu Wall are deliberate for the following few sols because the Margin Marketing campaign marches on. As soon as downlinked to Earth, this information collected by SHERLOC, PIXL, and SuperCam will assist the science staff resolve whether or not to drill right here – or to look elsewhere and choose a unique marginal carbonate goal to pattern for the primary core of the marketing campaign!
