Geological, multispectral, and meteorological imaging results from the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover in Jezero crater
J. F. Bell, J. N. Maki, Sanna Holm‐Alwmark, B. L. Ehlmann, S. A. Fagents, J. P. Grotzinger, Sanjeev Gupta, Alexander G. Hayes, Ken Herkenhoff, B. Horgan, J. R. Johnson, K. M. Kinch, M. T. Lemmon, M. B. Madsen, Jorge I. Núñez, Gerhard Paar, M. S. Rice, J. W. Rice, Nicole Schmitz, R. Sullivan, Alicia Vaughan, Mike J. Wolff, Andreas Bechtold, Tanja Bosak, Louise Duflot, Alberto González Fairén, Brad Garczynski, R. Jaumann, Marco Merusi, Chase Million, Eleni Ravanis, David L. Shuster, Justin I. Simon, Michael St. Clair, Christian Tate, S. H. G. Walter, B. P. Weiss, Alyssa M. Bailey, Tanguy Bertrand, Olivier Beyssac, A. J. Brown, Piluca Caballo-Perucha, M. A. Caplinger, C. M. Caudill, Francesca Cary, E. Cisneros, E. A. Cloutis, N. Cluff, P. Corlies, K. Crawford, S. Curtis, R. Deen, Darian T. Dixon, Christopher Donaldson, M. Barrington, Michelle Ficht, Stephanie Fleron, Michael Hansen, D. E. Harker, Rachel Howson, Joshua Huggett, Samantha Jacob, Elsa Jensen, Ole Bjarlin Jensen, M. J. Jodhpurkar, J. Joseph, Christian Juarez, Linda C. Kah, Oak Kanine, Jessica Z. Kristensen, Tex Kubacki, Kristiana Lapo, Angela Magee, Michael Maimone, G. Mehall, L. Mehall, J. Mollerup, Daniel Viúdez‐Moreiras, K. Paris, K. E. Powell, Frank Preusker, J. Proton, Corrine Rojas, Danny Sallurday, Kim Saxton, Eva L. Scheller, Christina H. Seeger, M. Starr, N. Stein, Nathalie Turenne, Jason Van Beek, A. Winhold, Rachel Yingling
Abstract
Perseverance's Mastcam-Z instrument provides high-resolution stereo and multispectral images with a unique combination of spatial resolution, spatial coverage, and wavelength coverage along the rover's traverse in Jezero crater, Mars. Images reveal rocks consistent with an igneous (including volcanic and/or volcaniclastic) and/or impactite origin and limited aqueous alteration, including polygonally fractured rocks with weathered coatings; massive boulder-forming bedrock consisting of mafic silicates, ferric oxides, and/or iron-bearing alteration minerals; and coarsely layered outcrops dominated by olivine. Pyroxene dominates the iron-bearing mineralogy in the fine-grained regolith, while olivine dominates the coarse-grained regolith. Solar and atmospheric imaging observations show significant intra- and intersol variations in dust optical depth and water ice clouds, as well as unique examples of boundary layer vortex action from both natural (dust devil) and Ingenuity helicopter-induced dust lifting. High-resolution stereo imaging also provides geologic context for rover operations, other instrument observations, and sample selection, characterization, and confirmation.