NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Milestones - 2021 Year in Review

What has NASA’s Perseverance rover accomplished since landing on the surface of Mars in February 2021? Surface Operations Mission Manager Jessica Samuels reflects on a year filled with groundbreaking discoveries at Jezero Crater and counts up the rover’s achievements: ● More than 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers) driven ● A new record for the longest drive in a Martian day ● Six samples and counting of Martian rock and atmosphere that could eventually be brought to Earth for further study ● More than 50 gigabytes of science data ● More than 100,000 images returned, including two “selfies“ ● 18 flights by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which hitched a ride and coordinates flights with the Perseverance rover Samuels also explains the next phase of Perseverance’s mission: to explore the delta that formed in Jezero Crater billions of years ago from sediment that an ancient river carried into the lake that once existed in the crat