NASA's Perseverance rover overcomes obstacles to explore Martian 'Bright Angel'
What's the story
NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring the southern side of Neretva Vallis, an ancient river channel on Mars, since January.
The rover's journey has now led it to a region of scientific interest known as "Bright Angel."
This area is named for its light-toned outcrops, believed to be ancient rocks exposed by the river that once flowed there.
Way
The journey to Bright Angel
The expedition to Bright Angel was not without difficulties. The rover encountered an unexpected field of boulders that turned a relatively smooth trip into a challenging slog.
"What had been drives averaging over a hundred meters per Martian day went down to only tens of meters. It was frustrating," said Evan Graser, an engineer who helps plan Perseverance's route.
To overcome this obstacle, the team decided to reroute Perseverance through a field of dunes and the river channel.
Obstacles
Autonomous navigation system faces boulder challenge
Perseverance relies on AutoNav, an autonomous navigation system.
While previous Mars rovers required total control from Earth, Perseverance's guides can provide it with a general route, and AutoNav handles the minute-to-minute steering.
However, when the boulders became too large for AutoNav to handle, the rover had to find another way.
The solution was found in a field of Martian dunes located north of Perseverance's course.
New discoveries
Perseverance's reroute leads to scientific opportunities
Despite the risk of getting trapped in the Martian sands - a fate suffered by Spirit rover in 2009 - these dunes were small and spread out enough for Perseverance to plot a course through them.
Once in the river channel, Perseverance was able to cover around 200m per Martian day.
The new route also presented scientific opportunities, including the discovery of Mount Washburn, a rocky hill that scientists speculate may house a rock formed from a subsurface magma pool.
Scientific analysis
Perseverance begins analysis of Bright Angel rocks
After reaching a cliff around the north edge of the channel, Perseverance turned west and four Martian days later, it finally reached Bright Angel.
The rover has since begun analyzing the rocks in this region, raising questions about whether it should collect a rock sample from this intriguing Martian territory.
This analysis will provide further insights into the geological history of Mars and potentially uncover more evidence of the planet's past.