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

[APOD Robot]

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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[XgeoX]

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

Eric

[JohnD]

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

[Tszabeau]

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?

[orin stepanek]

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

[sillyworm 2]

Orin..Wonder what that circled feature represents?

[orin stepanek]

Orin..Wonder what that circled feature represents?

That's my circle; area I'm interested in? I hope JPL is too!

[NCTom]

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

[JohnD]

Orin
Where did your second pic come from?

[WWW]

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.

[JohnD]

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.

[neufer]

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"

[neufer]

worth a look?

---

Perseverance's potential route to the Delta

---

I hope they go up river a ways: looks like a lot of interest on river
shoreline! 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.

[orin stepanek]

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!

[WWW]

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.

[neufer]

Perseverance's potential route to the Delta

---

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.

[heehaw]

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]

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.)

[Chris Peterson]

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.

[Chris Peterson]

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.

[orin stepanek]

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!

[sillyworm 2]

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?

[neufer]

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.)

It is a myth that geologists in hazmat suits are more efficient than their robotic overlords.

[Guest]

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.

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?

[JohnD]

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