NASA's Perseverance rover takes its first drive on Mars

Washington DC, March 06: In a significant step, NASA's perseverance rover took its first-ever drive on the land of the red planet. The rover covered 21.3 feet across the martian landspace. The drive was performed on March 04. The drive served as a mobility test that marks just one of many milestones as team members check out and calibrate every system, subsystem, and instrument on Perseverance.

According to NASA, the drive was lasted about 33 minutes. The rover propelled forward 13 feet (4 meters), where it then turned in place 150 degrees to the left and backed up 8 feet (2.5 meters) into its new temporary parking space.

 

Anais Zarifian, Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mobility testbed engineer at NASA, "When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of the first drive,”

 

“This was our first chance to ‘kick the tires’ and take Perseverance out for a spin. The rover’s six-wheel-drive responded superbly. 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,” Zarifan said.

 

Engineers of the rover used Perseverance’s Navigation and Hazard Avoidance Cameras to image the spot where Perseverance touched down, dispersing Martian dust with plumes from its engines. It helps them better to understand the dynamics of a retrorocket landing on the Red Planet.

 

Talking about this drive the space orgnisation said, once the rover begins pursuing its science goals, it is expected to have regular commutes extending 200 meters. “The first trek of the agency’s largest, most advanced rover yet on the Red Planet marks a major milestone before science operations get underway,” said NASA in a statement.

 

NASA launched it from Florida on 30 July last year. It arrived at the red planet on February 18 after a 203-day journey traversing 472 million kilometers.