As of sol 575 Perseverance has travled over 12 km and Ingenuity has made 33 flights. Currently Persverance is collecting samples at the base of the Jezero Crater delta. I have been field geologic mapping the traverse out to 30 m from the rover during the entire delta campaign and some of the maps are shown in the following. The delta is a classic Earth-style "Gilbert delta" and the layers of sediment arre being examined carfefully for potential biogenic materials, cored, and stired on the rover for delivery to a caching site.

We have been busy traversing the floor of Jezero Crater and have collected several samples for eventual return to Earth as well as running the Ingenuity helicopter through its paces.. The geologic field mapping from the rover perspective has been challenging as the rocks are all very weathered and altered from being present during the very wet early history of Mars. Below are som summaries of important events

Get ready for more adventures on Mars. Although Perseverance appears similar to Curiosity, the previous rover, it is a new mission throughout. The really big difference is that Perseverance is tasked with identifying and caching samples for potential return to Earth beginning this decade. For that reason, the careful documentation of every aspect of the geology and the context of the sampling along the traverse will be a vital component of the mission.

Below are some preliminary concepts for the presentation of the Endeavour crater geologic traverse maps. Conceptually, the products are simple polygons of successive areas alow the entire traverse. The final data set would consist of 90 to 100 subframes and the accompanying reference map.

Cape York rim segment

Sol 5135 - Opportunity Continues Weathering the Global Dust Event of 2018 at Perseverance Valley

Opportunity is hunkered down in the floor of Perseverance Valley here on the inner wall of Endeavour crater waiting out the global dust storm of 2018.