Perseverance - Early Drives, Sols 14-72 Options

[Phil Stooke]

I am setting up a new thread now for the early drives and continued checkout. Post in here as we start our traverse, sol 14 and on.

Phil

[Guest_Steve5304_*]

I am setting up a new thread now for the early drives and continued checkout. Post in here as we start our traverse, sol 14 and on.

Phil

Nice!

Do we have any roadmaps for where the rover will be headed yet or is that something we will get in the weeks ahead after the helicopter

[Phil Stooke]

Hi Steve. They just had a press conference and image release on the mission website which includes this:

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25700/the-r...r-perseverance/

They will decide soon which of the two paths to take, but they seemed to prefer the clockwise path out of the landing area. Later it meets up with the nominal path through the delta.

Phil

[Andreas Plesch]

I have updated my interactive map using an EDL rover down look image with an animation of the first drive, estimated from closely analyzing the animation shown during the press conference:

https://bit.ly/PercyMAP

Here is a map of the current location (ca. 4590880.87, 1093294.80, -2569.90, Equirectangular Mars 2000 Sphere projection):



I think it is pretty close. Rover should be to scale.

[edit] Ah, I see that Phil came up earlier pretty much with the same route. Should have noticed earlier. Anyways, glad it was not a case famous last worlds.

[Marz]

Hi Steve. They just had a press conference and image release on the mission website which includes this:

https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25700/the-r...r-perseverance/

They will decide soon which of the two paths to take, but they seemed to prefer the clockwise path out of the landing area. Later it meets up with the nominal path through the delta.

Phil

The counter-clockwise route is a little shorter (~5km to delta front). The potential for science targets on the clockwise route seems like a better option even though it adds another km or so to reach the main delta. For instance, the isolated delta remnant would be reached in about 5km and it could be very useful to understanding delta formation and erosion.

[MahFL]

Hi Steve. They just had a press conference and image release on the mission website which includes this:

They will decide soon which of the two paths to take, but they seemed to prefer the clockwise path out of the landing area. Later it meets up with the nominal path through the delta.

Phil

They could have used different colours for the first part, I thought the blue and purple were the same colour when I watched the news briefing.

[MahFL]

Why did they make the tread pattern curved and not just a straight line ?

[Nix]

Been wondering about that too. To make them stronger than straight lines would? Curiosity's were more like the design in most tires, but then inverted; raised rims instead of grooves.

[MahFL]

Been wondering about that too. To make them stronger than straight lines would? Curiosity's were more like the design in most tires, but then inverted; raised rims instead of grooves.

I found the answer :

"Extensive testing in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built the rover and manages operations, has shown these treads better withstand the pressure from sharp rocks and grip just as well or better than Curiosity's when driving on sand."

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasas-persever...-and-air-brakes

[PaulH51]

Another Sol, another drive (sol 15 Navcam - raw)

[Nix]

I found the answer :

"Extensive testing in the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built the rover and manages operations, has shown these treads better withstand the pressure from sharp rocks and grip just as well or better than Curiosity's when driving on sand."

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasas-persever...-and-air-brakes

I found as much; but nothing on straight vs curved specifically, only in comparison with the pattern on Curie's wheels.

[Saturns Moon Tit...]

I made this map to show the two paths presented at yesterday's conference, my sense is that they'll decide fairly soon. Exciting times are ahead! The blue route is shorter (~4.6km, >23 sols drive) and safer, whereas the purple route is longer (~6.4km, >32 sols drive) but more scientifically interesting. The estimated times are based on the (aspirational?) 200m per sol that Percy has been designed to reach, of course in reality there'll be scientific stops that will greatly lengthen the journey.

Personally, I am a fan of the purple route, it covers a greater diversity of geological terrains and gets a good close-up look at the amazing stratigraphy on the isolated delta butte.

[Marvin]

I found as much; but nothing on straight vs curved specifically, only in comparison with the pattern on Curie's wheels.

“But perhaps the most visible change is in the grousers. They are ten percent taller and run across the width of the wheel in a near straight line. It’s got a slight curvature to it to help give some strength to it,” says JPL engineer Patrick DeGrosse.

https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/to-b...s-test-on-mars/

Test wheel victims and survivors:

[Nix]

Ah. Thanks .

[Steve G]

You'd think the Blue path would be more interesting with a large crater and the heat shield not far off the path that I'm certain the engineers would like to have a peek at.