NASA’s Perseverance Observes ‘Observation Rock’

This natural-color, high-resolution mosaic showing “Observation Rock” was taken by the Mastcam-Z instrument on NASA’s Perseverance as the rover climbed the western wall of Jezero Crater. The location is near an area the Perseverance science team is calling “Curtis Ridge.”

The 14 frames used to generate the mosaic were acquired on Oct. 18, 2024, the 1,302nd Martian day, or sol, of Perseverance’s mission.

Figure A is an enhanced-color version of the mosaic in which the image’s color bands have been processed to improve visual contrast and accentuate color differences. 

Arizona State University leads the operations of the Mastcam-Z instrument, working in collaboration with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, on the design, fabrication, testing, and operation of the cameras, and in collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen on the design, fabrication, and testing of the calibration targets.

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance: science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance/