First Test Drive on Mars

This image was taken by the rover’s Navigation Cameras.​ Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance revs up. NASA’s newest rover took its first test drive on Martian soil on March 4, after its impressive landing on the red planet in February.

“You can see the wheel tracks we left on Mars,” reported Anais Zarfian, Perseverance’s mobility test bed engineer. “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to seen wheel tracks and I’ve seen a lot of them.”

Days before, Perseverance completed another milestone, unfurling its 7-foot robotic arm and flexing each of its five joints.

“We are now confident our drive system is good to go, capable of taking us wherever the science leads us over the next two years,” Zarfian said.

The rover’s science mission focuses on the search for ancient microbial life on Mars. Perseverance will drill a core sample that will be returned to Earth at a later date.

Source: Florida Today/USA Today Network