Days after Nasa grounded the Ingenuity helicopter forever on Mars following a fatal 72nd flight, the Perseverance is in trouble too.
The latest data from the Martian rover confirmed that the dust cover on one of the science instrument’s cameras is not functioning. The covers help keep dust away from accumulating on the optics of the SHERLOC instrument. Nasa said that it remains partially open.
The partially opened cover interferes with the science data collection operations.
The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals a.k.a Sherloc ses cameras, a spectrometer, and a laser to search for organic compounds and minerals that have been altered in watery environments. This could be a sign of a past microbial life.
“An engineering team has been investigating to determine the root cause and possible solutions. Recently, the cover partially opened. To better understand the behavior of the cover’s motor, the team has been sending commands to the instrument that alter the amount of power being fed to it,” Nasa said in an update.
The Perseverance rover is currently trundling through the Jazero crater on Mars looking to find signs of ancient microbial life on the planet, that was once believed to have been filled with lakes and rivers. The Jazero crater itself is the location of an ancient lake.
The rover is making its way to explore an area nicknamed “Beehive Geyser,” the rover marked its 1,000th Martian day, or sol, on the Red Planet on Dec. 12, 2023 – more than 300 sols beyond its initial prime mission.
Sherloc is part of a seven-instrument suite on Perseverance. During the development of the mission, the team designed the instrument suite such that the rover could still achieve its science objectives should any single instrument fail. Sherloc has scanned and provided rich data on 34 rock targets, creating a total of 261 hyperspectral maps of those targets.
The rover, which landed on Mars with the Ingenuity helicopter, is now alone after the quadcopter suffered a fatal fight in January this year. The latest imagery from the surface of Mars showed that Ingenuity was beyond software repair as it had lost one of the four blades that help it soar in the thin Martian air.
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
