APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

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APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by APOD Robot » Sat Feb 27, 2021 5:05 am

Image Perseverance Landing Site from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Explanation: Seen from orbit a day after a dramatic arrival on the martian surface, the Perseverance landing site is identified in this high-resolution view from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter's camera image also reveals the location of the Mars 2020 mission descent stage, heat shield, and parachute and back shell that delivered Perseverance to the surface of Mars. Each annotated inset box spans 200 meters (650 feet) across the floor of Jezero Crater. Perseverance is located at the center of the pattern created by rocket exhaust as the descent stage hovered and lowered the rover to the surface. Following the sky crane maneuver, the descent stage itself flew away to crash at a safe distance from the rover, its final resting place indicated by a dark V-shaped debris pattern. Falling to the surface nearby after their separation in the landing sequence, heat shield, parachute and back shell locations are marked in the high-resolution image from Mars orbit.

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by XgeoX » Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:28 am

Look how close it landed to that large ridge line, which direction is it going to start moving?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by JohnD » Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:19 am

Orientate yourself within Jezero, XgoeX, with this NASA video: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/ ... ding-site/
Those craters next the landing site are 5-600 meters across, so will have walls about 0.15 of that (See Watters et al: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com ... 14JE004630) so its walls will be about 75 meters high and I'd guess that 'ridge' is less than that. Yes, to be avoided, but not a disaster, and anyway, Percy landed EXACTLY where it was told to! (see the video above!)

John

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by Tszabeau » Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:50 pm

I’m a little surprised that the heat shield appears to be, more or less, intact (no visible debris field) since it had more momentum and hit the surface without benefit of parachute or thrusters. I guess it’s just built tough and it doesn’t have any doomaflochies onboard. It doesn’t appear to have bounced much, either. I wonder how deep it’s embedded?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat Feb 27, 2021 1:20 pm

PIA24333_fig1_1035c.jpg
I hope they go up river a ways: looks like a lot of interest on river
shoreline! :shock: Might be worth a look!

Preseverance_Mars_Landing_Spot.jpg
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by sillyworm 2 » Sat Feb 27, 2021 1:23 pm

Orin..Wonder what that circled feature represents?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat Feb 27, 2021 1:27 pm

sillyworm 2 wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 1:23 pm Orin..Wonder what that circled feature represents?
That's my circle; area I'm interested in? I hope JPL is too! :mrgreen:
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by NCTom » Sat Feb 27, 2021 3:46 pm

I suppose the ripples indicate an extensive dune field. Would comparisons show these to be on the order of 25 to 50 meters high?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by JohnD » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:16 pm

Orin
Where did your second pic come from?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by WWW » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:18 pm

Hopefully NASA has been serializing or at least adding identifying marking to these discarded components. I could see that after a few hundred years or more when Mars becomes be a more common stop for human visitors there will likely be investigators finding some of these discarded parts and trying to concoct crazy theories that they were are actually left by long lost Martian colonies or from other ancient astronauts.

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by JohnD » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:24 pm

The usual archeological explanation for something with no known purpose is "Ritual object".
As we'll be teleporting to Mars by then, the skycrane and parachute will be a 'wind chariot' and the heat shield an outdoor bath for ritual cleansing before worship.

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:39 pm

Tszabeau wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:50 pm
I’m a little surprised that the heat shield appears to be, more or less, intact (no visible debris field) since it had more momentum and hit the surface without benefit of parachute or thrusters. I guess it’s just built tough and it doesn’t have any doomaflochies onboard. It doesn’t appear to have bounced much, either. I wonder how deep it’s embedded?
Are you looking at the large irregular black splotch in the orange square
or the round white "i" dot in the word "sh(i)eld" :?:
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:04 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 1:20 pm

I hope they go up river a ways: looks like a lot of interest on river
shoreline! :shock: Might be worth a look!
Curiosity avoided dark sand dunes in order to safely ascend Mt. Sharp.

Perseverance will also avoid sand dunes to quickly ascend the Delta.
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by orin stepanek » Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:06 pm

JohnD wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:16 pm Orin
Where did your second pic come from?
It's in the Martian Delta near the landing cite; but this I cropped and copied from one of Art's posts in the Cafe! :mrgreen:
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by WWW » Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:46 pm

Wouldn't it make some sense to look for sign of ancient life (or fossils) deep in the mud of the delta? One way to do that might be to crawl into or close to the edge of the small Belva crater that punched a deep hole into the delta. That could save a lot of digging (or drilling) to sample some of the older delta material. The drawn out path to be explored doesn't seem to come very close to the crater at all.

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by neufer » Sat Feb 27, 2021 8:38 pm

WWW wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:46 pm
Wouldn't it make some sense to look for sign of ancient life (or fossils) deep in the mud of the delta? One way to do that might be to crawl into or close to the edge of the small Belva crater that punched a deep hole into the delta. That could save a lot of digging (or drilling) to sample some of the older delta material. The drawn out path to be explored doesn't seem to come very close to the crater at all.
  • It's the wrong color.
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by heehaw » Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:36 pm

In due course, humans could (and perhaps will) land on Mars.
Are there any other planets on which people might land? Hmmm! Name one?

WWW

Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by WWW » Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:09 pm

heehaw wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:36 pm In due course, humans could (and perhaps will) land on Mars.
Are there any other planets on which people might land? Hmmm! Name one?
How about the perpetual twilight rim of the planet Mercury? Likely not much of interest there, but a solar powered relay station could be setup just over the twilight border that could help communicate with Mars explorers/colonies when that planet is opposite the sun from earth’s prospective. (Perhaps two stations or maybe one on the polar point for ideal communications.)

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by Chris Peterson » Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:25 pm

WWW wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:09 pm
heehaw wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:36 pm In due course, humans could (and perhaps will) land on Mars.
Are there any other planets on which people might land? Hmmm! Name one?
How about the perpetual twilight rim of the planet Mercury? Likely not much of interest there, but a solar powered relay station could be setup just over the twilight border that could help communicate with Mars explorers/colonies when that planet is opposite the sun from earth’s prospective. (Perhaps two stations or maybe one on the polar point for ideal communications.)
What perpetual twilight rim? The only places on Mercury that never see the Sun are the bottom of a few deep craters right at the poles. Mercury is not tidally locked to the Sun.
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by Chris Peterson » Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:26 pm

heehaw wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:36 pm In due course, humans could (and perhaps will) land on Mars.
Are there any other planets on which people might land? Hmmm! Name one?
No, but there are plenty of asteroids and planetary satellites to choose from.
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by orin stepanek » Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:38 am

I imagine far into the future; man may venture toward some of Saturn's & Jupiter's moons! But that is too far into the future for this one! I just hope I'm around for James Webb's explorations! :D
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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by sillyworm 2 » Sun Feb 28, 2021 1:57 pm

According to the color coded landscape..the area Orin circled included a large( tall?) Etched Basalt area.So the lander could not persevere through( are there sand dunes in the path there..I will look again) to explore that area?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by neufer » Sun Feb 28, 2021 3:59 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 11:26 pm
heehaw wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 10:36 pm
In due course, humans could (and perhaps will) land on Mars.
Are there any other planets on which people might land? Hmmm! Name one?
No, but there are plenty of asteroids and planetary satellites to choose from.
Oh, I hope not :!:

(I've a little grown weary seeing all the 'creative' ways humans can use flags for.)

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by Guest » Wed Mar 03, 2021 11:42 am

Tszabeau; I wondered if NASA has given any thought to examining the area where the heat shield impacted? This would allow examination of the newly exposed sub-surface without the need to dig. I would stay away from the Descent Stage impact area because of the cables and umbilical. Don't want to get tangled up in anything.
Tszabeau wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 12:50 pm I’m a little surprised that the heat shield appears to be, more or less, intact (no visible debris field) since it had more momentum and hit the surface without benefit of parachute or thrusters. I guess it’s just built tough and it doesn’t have any doomaflochies onboard. It doesn’t appear to have bounced much, either. I wonder how deep it’s embedded?

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Re: APOD: Perseverance Landing Site from Mars... (2021 Feb 27)

Post by JohnD » Thu Mar 04, 2021 5:49 pm

https://youtu.be/Flbhk1KHHJw

This 'video' (I think it's made from stills, but most impressive) really shows that Percy landed right where he should have, and that a little way either could have been disastrous!

John