This high-resolution still image is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on February 18, 2021.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Perseverance Rover approaches Mars in this Feb. 18, 2020, top-down still image captured by a camera on the rover’s descent stage.
Perseverance is searching for signs of ancient microbial life, to advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing because scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. In summer 2024, the rover collected a sample from the “Chevaya Falls” rock which was found to have potential biosignatures — clues that suggest past life may have been present, but that require more data or further study before any conclusions about the absence or presence of life.
In addition to making discoveries on Mars, the rover itself is demonstrating technological advances: A new technology developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California enables Perseverance to figure out its whereabouts without calling humans for help. Dubbed Mars Global Localization, the technology features an algorithm that rapidly compares panoramic images from the rover’s navigation cameras with onboard orbital terrain maps.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
这张高分辨率静态图像截取自一段由多台相机在2021年2月18日NASA毅力号火星车登陆火星时拍摄的视频。
图片来源: NASA/JPL-Caltech
在这张拍摄于2020年2月18日的俯视静态图像中，NASA的毅力号火星车正在接近火星，该图像由火星车下降级上的一台相机捕捉。
毅力号正在寻找古代微生物生命的迹象，以推进NASA对火星过去宜居性的探索。NASA选择耶泽罗陨石坑（Jezero Crater）作为着陆点，是因为科学家认为该地区曾经被水淹没，并且是一个古老河流三角洲的所在地。2024年夏季，火星车从切瓦亚瀑布（Chevaya Falls）岩石中采集了一份样本，该样本被发现具有潜在的生物印记——这些线索表明过去可能存在生命，但在得出关于生命是否存在或缺失的任何结论之前，还需要更多数据或进一步研究。
除了在火星上取得发现外，火星车本身也在展示技术上的进步：一项由位于南加州的NASA喷气推进实验室（Jet Propulsion Laboratory）开发的新技术，使毅力号能够在无需人类帮助的情况下弄清自己的具体位置。这项被称为火星全球定位（Mars Global Localization）的技术，其核心是一个能够将火星车导航相机拍摄的全景图像与机载轨道地形图进行快速比对的算法。
图片来源: NASA/JPL-Caltech
