NASA’s Mars Rover presents the first victorious images from Crater’s “Lookout Hill.”

It was a long and difficult climb, but NASA’s Perseverance rover did it. The wheeled Mars rover reached the rim of Jezero Crater and paused to enjoy the view. The rover’s first images from Lookout Hill on December 10 show hills, ridges, scattered rocks and hazy skies. The rover looked over the edge and also into its wheel tracks. This marks the beginning of a new scientific campaign following the rover’s adventures inside the crater.

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Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater in early 2021 and has been exploring since then Ancient river deltafound Organic molecules And I built a collection of Rock samples NASA hopes to one day return it to Earth for closer study.

“While climbing the rim of Jezero Crater, our rover drivers did an amazing job of overcoming some of the toughest terrain we have encountered since landing,” said Stephen Lee, Perseverance’s deputy project manager. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory statement On December 12th.

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“No Mars mission has ever attempted to climb a mountain this size so quickly.” said JPL spacecraft driver Camden Miller In late October.

It all worked out. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory posted a stunning panoramic photo taken just days before Perseverance reached the summit. The panoramic view highlights the steepness of the terrain the vehicle had to navigate.

Perseverance is now embarking on its new science campaign, “Northern Rim.” NASA has already made plans for the first year of the campaign. The rover is expected to travel four miles overall and visit four specific sites of geological interest. It will also collect more samples as it progresses.

New wonders await. “It represents our transition from rocks that partially filled Jezero Crater when it formed as a result of a massive impact about 3.9 billion years ago, to rocks from deep within Mars that were thrown up to form the rim of the crater after the impact,” said Ken, the Perseverance project scientist. Farley.

A JPL video shows the proposed path along the edge.

The first major target is “Witch Hazel Hill”, a layered outcrop of “scientific interest”. These layers represent a peek into Mars’ past. “As we drive down the hill, we will step back in time, exploring ancient Martian environments recorded at the crater rim,” said Perseverance scientist Candice Bedford from Purdue University.

Farley said the rocks the team expects to examine during the expedition are among the oldest rocks found anywhere in the solar system. They can tell us a lot about early Mars and benefit our understanding of the early Earth. Mars and Earth are both rocky planets, although they took very different paths. Earth became habitable for life as we know it while Mars became inhospitable.

One of the rover’s big scientific goals is to help answer the question of whether or not Mars hosted microbial life long ago. I have found some Promising rocksBut scientists will need to verify it in person. Meanwhile, Perseverance continues its exploration at a new height.