Timeline of Mars 2020
The Mars 2020 mission and its rover, Perseverance, and helicopter Ingenuity, were launched from Earth on 30 July 2020. On 15 February 2022, The New York Times reported an overview of Mars 2020 mission events since landing in Jezero crater on Mars in February 2021. As of August 12, 2022, Perseverance has been on the planet Mars for 526 sols (540 total days; 1 year, 175 days).
Current weather data on Mars is being monitored by the Curiosity rover and the Insight lander. The Perseverance rover is also collecting weather data. (See the External links section)
Overview of mission
Prelaunch (2012–2020)
- 4 December 2012: Mars 2020 mission announced by NASA.
- 8–10 February 2017: Workshop held to discuss eight proposed landing sites for the mission. The three sites chosen were Jezero crater, Northeastern Syrtis Major Planum, and Columbia Hills.
- 30 July 2020: Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral.
Landing and initial tests (February–May 2021)
After arriving on the 18th of February, Perseverance focused on validating its systems. During this phase, it used its science instruments for the first time, generated oxygen on Mars with MOXIE, and deployed Ingenuity. Ingenuity began the technology demonstration phase of its mission, completing five flights before transitioning to the operations demonstration phase of its mission.
- 18 February 2021: Landing in Jezero crater on Mars
- 4 March 2021: Perseverance rover's first test drive.
- 5 March 2021: NASA named the Perseverance rover landing site "Octavia E. Butler Landing".
- 3 April 2021: Deployment of Ingenuity
- 8 April 2021: NASA reported the first MEDA weather report on Mars: for 3–4 April 2021, the high was "minus-7.6 degrees, and a low of minus-117.4 degrees ... [winds] gusting to ... 22 mph".
- 19 April 2021: First major flight test of Ingenuity
- 20 April 2021: MOXIE made 5.37 g of oxygen gas from carbon dioxide on its first test on Mars
- 22 April 2021: Second flight test of Ingenuity
- 25 April 2021: Third flight test of Ingenuity
- 30 April 2021: Fourth flight test of Ingenuity.
- 7 May 2021: Fifth flight test of Ingenuity. First one-way flight on Mars. Ingenuity's mission transitions from being a technology demonstration to being an operations demonstration.
- 22 May 2021: Sixth flight test of Ingenuity, first of the operations demonstration. A glitch with the navigation system caused the helicopter to land 5 meters away from its intended landing site.
Cratered floor campaign (June 2021-April 2022)
The Cratered Floor Campaign was the first science campaign. It began on 1 June 2021, with the goal of exploring the Crater Floor Fractured Rough and Séítah geologic units. To avoid the sand dunes of the Séítah unit, Perseverance will mostly travel within the Crater Floor Fractured Rough geologic unit or along the boundary between the two units. The first of Perseverance's sample tubes are planned to be filled during this expedition.
After collecting the samples, Perseverance will return to its landing site, before continuing to the delta for its second science campaign. At some point, it will store the filled sample tubes in a designated area for the upcoming Mars sample-return mission. While Perseverance embarked on its first science campaign, Ingenuity continued to travel alongside the rover as part of its operations demonstration campaign.
- 1 June 2021: Perseverance begins its first science campaign.
- 8 June 2021: Seventh flight of Ingenuity.
- 21 June 2021: Eighth flight of Ingenuity. The “watchdog issue”, a recurring issue which occasionally prevented Ingenuity from taking flight, is fixed.
- 5 July 2021: Ninth flight of Ingenuity. This flight is the first to explore areas only an aerial vehicle can, by taking a shortcut over the Séítah unit. The sandy ripples of the Séítah unit would prove too difficult for Perseverance to travel through directly.
- 7 July 2021: To test its sampling system, the rover ran one sample tube through inspection, sealing and storing and the attempt was successful. Up to this point, the rover has now used 1 of its 43 sample tubes.
- 24 July 2021: Tenth flight of Ingenuity.
- 4 August 2021: Eleventh flight of Ingenuity.
- 5-6 August 2021: Perseverance attempted to acquire its first sample from the ancient lakebed by drilling out "finger-size cores of Martian rock for return to Earth." This attempt did not succeed, as the rock sampled was not sufficiently consolidated to produce an intact core and has turned to dust. Up to this point, the rover has now used 2 of its 43 sample tubes. Later on, the mission team confirmed that though soil samples were not cached, but in this process the rover cached the gas samples of the martian atmosphere in it, being the first gas samples cached by the rover.
- 16 August 2021: Twelfth flight of Ingenuity.
- 1 September 2021: A second sampling attempt on a rock, named "Rochette", was successful.
- 4 September 2021: Thirteenth flight of Ingenuity.
- 8 September 2021: A third sampling attempt, also on Rochette, was successful.
- 1 to 14 October 2021: Mars Solar Conjunction.
- 24 October 2021: Fourteenth flight of Ingenuity.
- 6 November 2021: Fifteen flight of Ingenuity.
- 15 November 2021: A sample was taken from the Brac Outcrop in the South Séítah Unit.
- 21 November 2021: Sixteenth flight of Ingenuity.
- 24 November 2021: Another sample was taken from the Brac Outcrop.
- 5 December 2021: Seventeenth flight of Ingenuity. Full data from the flight was not received until later, as Ingenuity initially landed in an area which prevented communication with the rover.
- 15 December 2021: Eighteenth flight of Ingenuity.
- 18 December 2021: A sample was taken from Issole in the South Séítah Unit.
- 29 December 2021: Perseverance attempted to take another sample from Issole, but was unable to successfully cache it.
- 31 January 2022: The failed sample attempt from Issole was abandoned, and a new, successful sample attempt was made on Issole.
- 8 February 2022: Nineteenth flight of Ingenuity. It had been planned for earlier, but a dust storm in the area caused delays.
- 25 February 2022: Twentieth flight of Ingenuity.
- 7 March 2022: A sample was taken from Sid in the Séítah Unit.
- 10 March 2022: Twenty-first flight of Ingenuity.
- 13 March 2022: A second sample was taken from Sid in the Séítah Unit.
- 20 March 2022: Twenty-second flight of Ingenuity.
- 24 March 2022: Twenty-third flight of Ingenuity.
- 28 March 2022: Perseverance enters rapid traverse mode, where it will remain for the rest of the science campaign.
- 3 April 2022: Twenty-fourth flight of Ingenuity.
- 8 April 2022: Twenty-fifth flight of Ingenuity. This flight went faster than all previous flights, at a speed of 5.5 meters per second. It also travelled 704 meters, which was farther than all previous flights.
- 13 April 2022: Perseverance arrives at the Jezero Delta.
Delta front campaign (April 2022 - Present)
The Delta Front Campaign is the second, currently ongoing science campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. Ingenuity continues to travel alongside the rover as part of its operations demonstration campaign. Once Perseverance traverses to the top of the delta, it is expected to begin the third science campaign - the Delta Top Campaign.
- 18 April 2022: Perseverance officially begins the Delta Front Campaign.
- 19 April 2022: Twenty-sixth flight of Ingenuity.
- 21 April 2022: Perseverance leaves rapid traverse mode.
- 23 April 2022: Twenty-seventh flight of Ingenuity.
- 27 April 2022: NASA released images of the backshell that detached from the vehicle containing the Perseverance rover (and companion Ingenuity helicopter) during the landing phase on Mars in February 2021. The backshell and associated parachute were found about a mile from the landing site and images were taken by the companion helicopter during its 26th flight.
- 3 May 2022: NASA loses contact with Ingenuity due to it running out of power during the night.
- 5 May 2022: Contact with Ingenuity is regained. To avoid depleting the power, Ingenuity's heaters will not activate when battery temperature drops below -15° Celsius. Ingenuity instead will turn off all electronics when the temperature drops below -40°.
Samples cached for the Mars sample-return mission
In the frame of the Mars sample-return mission around 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of soil samples along with some Martian gas samples from the atmosphere will be cached. Currently, samples are being cached by Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars. Out of 43 sample tubes, rock sample tubes cached-10, gas sample tubes cached-1, witness tubes cached-1, tubes due to be cached-31. Before launch, 5 of the 43 tubes were designated “witness tubes” and filled with materials that would capture particulates in the ambient environment of Mars.
Sample Details | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Samples Taken | Date | Contents | Sample Name and Image | Rock Name | Core Length (measured by volume stations) | Location | Notes |
Tube 1 | 22 June 2021 (Sol 121) |
Witness Tube (Empty) | N/A | N/A | N/A | North Séítah Unit | This was taken as a dry-run in preparation for later sampling attempts, clean any contaminants, and did not aim to sample a rock. |
Tube 2 | 6 August 2021 (Sol 164) |
Atmospheric Gas | Roubion (failed attempt of caching rock sample) |
Roubion | N/A | Polygon Valley, Cratered Floor Fractured Rough Unit | Attempted to sample the rock but did not succeed, as they didn't reach the bit carousel and the caching system stored and sealed an empty tube. However in this process, it collected atmospheric samples. |
Tube 3 | 6 September 2021 (Sol 195) |
Igneous Rock Sample | Montdenier |
Rochette | 5.98 cm (2.35 in) | Arturby Ridge, Citadelle, South Séítah Unit | Successful sample. |
Tube 4 |
8 September 2021 (Sol 197) |
Montagnac |
6.14 cm (2.42 in) | Sampled from same rock as previous sample. | |||
Tube 5 | 15 November 2021 (Sol 263) |
Salette |
Brac | 6.28 cm (2.47 in) | Brac Outcrop, South Séítah Unit | ||
Tube 6 | 24 November 2021 (Sol 272) |
Coulettes |
3.30 cm (1.30 in) | ||||
Tube 7 | 22 December 2021 (Sol 299) |
Robine |
Issole | 6.08 cm (2.39 in) | Issole, South Séítah Unit | ||
Tube 8 | 29 December 2021 (Sol 306) |
N/A (Abandoned sample from this site due to Core Bit Dropoff.) |
N/A | Pebble-sized debris from the first sample fell into the bit carousel during transfer of the coring bit, which blocked the successful caching of the sample. It was decided to abandon this sample and do a second sampling attempt again. Subsequent tests and measures cleared remaining samples in tube and debris in caching system The tube was reused for second sample attempt, which was successful. | |||
31 January 2022 (Sol 338) |
Malay |
3.07 cm (1.21 in) | |||||
Tube 9 | 7 March 2022 (Sol 372) |
Ha'ahóni (aka "Hahonih") |
Sid | 6.50 cm (2.56 in) | Octavia E. Butler Landing/Ch’ał outcrop , Séítah Unit | ||
Tube 10 | 13 March 2022 (Sol 378) |
Atsá (aka "Atsah") |
6.00 cm (2.36 in) | ||||
Tube 11 | 7 July 2022 (Sol 491) |
Sedimentary Rock Sample | Swift Run |
Skinner Ridge | 6.69 cm (2.63 in) | Skinner Ridge, Delta Front | First Deltaic and First sedimentary sample cached by Perseverance. |
Tube 12 | 12 July 2022 (Sol 495) |
Skyland |
5.85 cm (2.30 in) | ||||
Tube 13 | 16 July 2022 (Sol 499) |
Witness Tube (Empty) | N/A | N/A | N/A | Hogwallow Flats, Delta Front | This maybe done to clean out any leftover debris during the previous sampling attempts. |
Tube 14 | 27 July 2022 (Sol 510) |
Sedimentary Rock Sample | Hazeltop |
Wildcat Ridge | 5.97 cm (2.35 in) | Wildcat Ridge, Delta Front | |
Tube 15 | 3 August 2022 (Sol 517) |
Bearwallow |
6.24 cm (2.46 in) | ||||
Sample Overview | Cached Samples | ||||||
Samples Tubes Cached (35%) 43
15
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Sources: |
Location and Current Status
- Octavia E. Butler Landing In Jezero Crater
(5 March 2021) Ingenuity helicopter flight path and Perseverance Traverse Path showing their current locations. Live link
Gallery
Self-portraits
Videos
Entry, descent, and landing (EDL) on Mars (animation)
Mars Perseverance rover - drive view
(1 July 2021)
Images
Perseverance rover on Mars
Mastcam-Z Calibration target
SuperCam calibration target with Mars meteorite
SHERLOC calibration target
Ingenuity helicopter's flights on Mars
Ingenuity helicopter on Mars
Ingenuity deployment and pre-flight operations on Mars
Landing
HiRISE image of Perseverance descent
Launch
Prelaunch
Other images
Top of rover with "Family Portrait" (B+W)
MOXIE first Martian oxygen production test on 20 April 2021, graph
Wide images
See also
- Astrobiology
- Composition of Mars
- Curiosity rover
- Exploration of Mars
- Geography of Mars
- Geology of Mars
- InSight lander
- List of missions to Mars
- List of rocks on Mars
- Mars Exploration Rover
- Mars Express orbiter
- Mars Odyssey Orbiter
- Mars Orbiter Mission
- Mars Pathfinder (Sojourner rover)
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Mars 2020 rover mission
- MAVEN orbiter
- Moons of Mars
- Phoenix lander
- Robotic spacecraft
- Scientific information from the Mars Exploration Rover mission
- Space exploration
- Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory
- U.S. Space Exploration History on U.S. Stamps
- Viking program
- Water on Mars