Thread by @WeAreSpaceScout

LIVE NOW: Perseverance's team is discussing the series of firsts since landing on Mars.

#CountdownToMars

Watch:

https://twitter.com/NASAMars/status/1367877901324935173

Speakers:
Robert Hogg, Perseverance deputy mission manager, JPL
Anais Zarifian, Perseverance mobility test bed engineer, JPL
Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist, JPL

Hogg: "One of the great things is that things happen for the very first time every day. For example, the first image, the first report, the first color panorama, the first instrument checks, and the first time we get to see major system parts working."

"I am happy to report, yesterday afternoon, we took our first drive on Mars."

Perseverance's team also tested the robotic arm for the first time.

"Another important first is all of the science instrument deployments and checkouts. One of these that was fun to see was the weather instrument from our partners in Spain. We deployed these on Sol 12."

"One more important milestone, our flight software update. This is the software that truly releases all the capability Perseverance has. About 16 MB, pretty small."

Zarifian: "I wanted to give an overview of our mobility systems, you'll see we have 6 wheels, the four corners are rotatable, 10 actuators total but we can only control 8. So if we want to turn, we have to stop first. The suspension dates back to Sojourner."

"Some new things that we have are the redesigned wheels, slightly narrower and thicker, and a new grouser design, it makes it much less prone to tearing up wheels. Another notable new addition is the vision compute element. We had it for EDL but repurposed it entirely..."

"to process imagery for navigation. It's ready to go for driving. We also did a steer actuator checkout, we commanded each wheel through a 30-degree rotation. It worked beautifully. We were very excited to move on."

"Today, we first drove 4 meters forward, we made a 150 degree turn left, backed up 2 meters, imaged the touchdown contact, and took some images with the NavCams for the VCE. This is a huge milestone - driving on Mars is the ultimate goal."

"Looking ahead, we'll do some longer drives. This is just the beginning. Our system is capable of doing so much more - we still drive at the same speed as Curiosity (0.1 mph) but thanks to improvements, we can truly average 200 meters per sol. That's due to the VCE."

"We're able to take a stereo pair, identify everything, and choose a path forward, all while the wheels are still moving. We can spend less time planning and more time driving, which is more time to do science."

Morgan: "Perseverance's landing site is now called Octavia E. Butler Landing. Octavia was a Pasadena native and an award-winning science fiction writing. Butler inspired and influenced the planetary science community and particularly those underrepresented in STEM."

"This is a theme we've continued since Curiosity, which named its landing site after science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury."

"Two weeks into the mission so far, we've received 7,000 images, including some of the geologic targets. This image, from Mastcam-Z, shows one of the first rocks we targeted with SUPERCAM. The results will be shown at a special briefing next Wednesday."

"In this image are distant deposits of the Jezero delta. The rocks in the foreground are similar, but in the mound in the background, these rocks look notably different. You can resolve layering, which are from rivers that flowed into the ancient lake Jezero."

"These are possible traverse paths that the team is considering for reaching the delta. There's a clockwise path and a counter-clockwise path. We're determining which path is safest and most interesting. From there we'll arrive at the Delta and explore the river."

QA now.

@AP: "I know you said the rover drove 40 meters and did a spin, how much distance has it traveled and how long did it take? When is the next drive?"

Zarifian: "In total, it took us about 33 minutes to drive 6.5 meters total. We plan driving again today, slightly longer plan."

"I'm not fully sure of the path, but we're driving today, and hopefully tomorrow."

@cbs_spacenews: "I was thinking back on Curiosity and the rover got to Mt. Sharp relatively quickly, is there even a nebulous timeline that says how long it might take to get to the Delta? Especially because of the improvements put in."

Morgan: "We're very eager to know as well"

"We're in the middle of conversations with the strategic rover planners to figure out how long it takes to get places. We're just getting the first estimate. I wouldn't have an exact number to give you but we're engaging in those conversations right now"

@SPACEdotcom: "Now that Perseverance has taken its first steps and so many images have returned, have mission scientists determined some of the types of rock that are being seen in Jezero compared to what you expected?"

Morgan: "We're seeing all kinds of textures, but.."

"We're only just getting our other instruments checked out. Next Wednesday, we'll get results from the SUPERCAM instrument, which is the next step in determining what these rocks are. It's hard to do that with images alone especially with far distant ones."

@Reuters: "Have you made any O2 yet from the CO2 in the atmosphere? And has anything gone wrong at all? When will Ingenuity fly?"

Hogg: "We have not run the MOXIE experiment yet. We've checked it out but not generated any O2. No hardware issues so far."

"On the helicopter, we're still figuring out possible flight zones and taking navcam stereo pairs in order to analyze the terrain."

Media Q: "I also wanted to know, how long did it take to travel that distance? Is 7 yards correct?"

Zarifian: "21 feet, 33 minutes"

@inversedotcom: "When will the helicopter first fly?"

Hogg: "We're still finding the best place to do it and its flight zone. First tests will happen after deployment. We'll cover that in a couple weeks. Again, not on a specific path at this time. Lot to figure out."

Social media Q: "How is Perseverance not freezing on Mars?"

Hogg: "It gets cold as -180 F and -120 C. We needed to make sure everything would be just fine. As Katie mentioned, it's important to keep our heaters working correctly to keep it all warm enough."

@Free_Space: "Is the decision about going left or right to the Delta at all related to the selected helipads? Are those separate operations? What instruments still need checked out?"

Morgan: "Our route decision has a couple factors. One is the type of terrain."

"But also, along the way we're looking at interesting science targets along the way. The counterclockwise route is very smooth but perhaps less interesting whereas the southern route takes us past some remnant deposits. We're very interested in it."

"The decision to go N or S is largely decoupled from the helicopter. Once the helicopter has finished its mission we'll decide a route."

Hogg: "We're a good deal along on all checkouts. There are some use-case-specific ones, like PIXL and SHERLOC."

"We're gonna get into the beginnings of deploying various parts of sample caching and then the tech demo, then finish commissioning the sample cache assembly line, if you will."

@BBC: "That clockwise route, does that take you past the particular mound you showed us? There's a defined rock wall, and when you look in the distance there seems to be an awful lot of dusty slopes instead of defined walls."

"We won't really begin our exploration mission in earnest until the helicopter concludes its mission. And yes, that rock wall is on the southern path. But we're also intrigued by these slopes. What it means is that those rocks are less resistant to weathering."

"It's very reminiscent of shale, which you'd see here on Earth, and those are places that we're wanting to study. We're interested in checking out these different types of rocks, both these fine-grain rocks, and these sandstones."

@StephenClark1: "When do you expect to collect your first sample? Will that be toward the Delta or will it wait? Will you be releasing daily status reports like JPL has for previous missions?"

Morgan: "We are very interested in the rocks here and near the delta."

"When capabilities come online, we're interested in sampling both where we've landed and as well as the ones along the way."

Hogg: "Getting ready for drilling will take until after the helicopter tech demo. As for the reports, I don't have the answer."

"But, I will say, the raw images website is up and running, and any images we take get on there within 24 hours. Everything dumping on there daily."

Moderator: "We do have updates we're getting online ASAP, you can go to @NASAPersevere and mars.nasa.gov/perseverance"

Media: "NASA has 3 robots on Mars, are people sequestered within their own mission, or on multiple?"

Hogg: "I worked on MSL for several years, and worked on M2020 half and half. Anecdotally, we have the same engineers that are flying between missions and carrying this forward."

"The same will be happening with MSR, we've had scientists go back and forth, and I'll say with this mission, this is the first time we've had a system designed so close we can ask the MSL team as needed. It's not draining between projects, but more confluence."

Morgan: "Many of our science team missions on Perseverance work on Curiosity, many of us go back and forth between missions. A lot of attention is on Perseverance, but Curiosity is getting into really exciting things. As scientists, we can ask how sites compare."

Irish TV: "Where are these layered rocks? Are they the prominent feature in (unintelligible)? Seems unlikely to be the feature in Big Bend. If you decide to go counterclockwise, will you go to Channel Islands? I guess it will take ~10 days."

Morgan: "I can confirm the delta remnant is indeed in that quad. That's something we're very interested in taking on the clockwise route. If we go counter, the science team will be interested in considering may be delta remnants in the Channel Islands quad."

@Discovery: "With the contract now out for the retrieval spacecraft to get the samples, what do you think of that?"

Hogg: "It's been amazing to explore Mars in this way. The prospect of really in earnest starting the sample return mission, this is one for the ages for JPL."

"We've been talking about this for decades. We've had a first for this project, the rover to return these samples was given the green light before launch. That's a huge confidence statement in this project and what we're doing and our ability to land on another planet."

Katie: "We've been thinking about notional samples to collect in Jezero for years now and the potential there. Of course, that's always been at a high level as we only had orbiter images. Now that we're seeing actual rocks it adds a whole new level of detail."

"We're actually talking about real rocks now, and it's very excited to those of us in the science team and the impact that these samples will have for future scientists."

Social Media Q: "Do you just go in a course and let the AI handle it, or do you have the wheels programmed for specific topography?"

Zarifian: "There's a few ways of commanding the rover. If you know the terrain, you can give very precise commands. Over longer distances..."

"...the AI steps in. We'll give the rover a goal to reach, and the AI will take and process images on the VCE, identify hazards, and decide on its next step forward. It analyzes what is going to fit under each wheel and from that determines whether or not it's safe."

American Spectator: "Does Ingenuity have a test model like Curiosity? Is there any data to visiting the skycrane crash site?"

Hogg: "There is a test set of electronics and prototypes and such, but no full flight replica. There are significant parts with duplicates."

Morgan: "The EDL engineers would appreciate it if we drove over to where the hardware has crashed, but from a science perspective we steer clear of places where the mission has impacted the surface of Mars. We are looking for pristine parts of Mars. That is important."

That is all for today. For more updates, visit nasa.gov/perseverance, and follow NASA at @NASAPersevere.

NASA closes out with a video, highlighting the success of Perseverance's landing.

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