Planet Mars Images: Fall 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

Planet Mars Images: Fall 2024 | NASA Mars Curiosity & Perseverance Rovers

This enhanced-color mosaic was taken on Sept. 27, 2024, by NASA's Perseverance Mars rover (Mars 2020) while climbing the western wall of Jezero Crater. Many of the landmarks visited by the rover during its 3½-year exploration of Mars can be seen.

Tracks shown in this image indicate the slipperiness of the terrain that NASA's Perseverance Mars rover (Mars 2020) has encountered during its climb up the rim of Jezero Crater. The image was taken by one of rover’s navigation cameras on Oct. 11, 2024.

Mars 2020 - sol 1311

Mars 2020 - sol 1311

Mars 2020 - sol 1309

MSL - sol 4345

MSL - sol 4301 

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December 2024.

“Mars rovers have driven over steeper terrain, and they’ve driven over more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one had to handle both — and on this scale,” said the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Camden Miller, who was a rover planner, or “driver,” for Curiosity and now serves the same role on the Perseverance mission. “For every two steps forward Perseverance takes, we were taking at least one step back. The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long, hard slog, so we got together to think up some options.”

NASA's Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes. 

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Celebrating 12+ Years on Mars (2012-2024)

Mission Name: Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

Rover Name: Curiosity

Main Job: To determine if Mars was ever habitable to microbial life. 

Launch: Nov. 6, 2011

Landing Date: Aug. 5, 2012, Gale Crater, Mars

Celebrating 3+ Years on Mars

Mission Name: Mars 2020

Rover Name: Perseverance

Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth.

Launch: July 30, 2020    

Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit: mars.nasa.gov

Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Processing: Kevin M. Gill/PipploIMP

Image Release Dates: Sept. 11-Oct. 28, 2024

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