Five Years of Perseverance Rover on Mars

NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down at the Octavia E. Butler Landing site on the floor of Mars’ Jezero crater on February 18, 2021. In the five years since, it has traversed ancient lava flows, lake deposits, and riverbeds while collecting and analyzing rock samples for future return to Earth. From uncovering signs of ancient water to detecting potential biosignatures (possible signs of life) in the rocks in Jezero, the Perseverance rover has transformed our understanding of Mars and laid the groundwork for future robotic and human exploration of the Red Planet. On the five-year anniversary of its landing, we highlight some of the biggest breakthroughs from the first half-decade of the Mars 2020 mission.

Detecting Potential Biosignatures 

In July 2024, Perseverance observed colorful "leopard spots” on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Neretva Vallis, an ancient river valley leading into Jezero crater. Organic carbon compounds and minerals detected along with these spots indicate that they most likely formed from biological processes. While there is still a chance that they formed without life involved, this is the most compelling potential biosignature discovered to date on Mars. Perseverance collected a sample from the leopard spots in this rock with the hope that we can one day bring the potential biosignature back to Earth where we can determine their origin with greater certainty using laboratory instruments.

Exploring Ancient Lakebeds 

At a rock named “Wildcat Ridge” in the sedimentary fan deposit, Perseverance found evidence of organic molecules using the instrument SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Minerals). The fine-grained sedimentary rocks at this site were likely deposited in an ancient lake setting, which may have supported a habitable environment where organics could have formed. These rocks were sampled by the Perseverance rover in August 2022 and stored on Mars so they could be brought back to Earth where we can study these organics in greater detail.

Investigating Complex Rock-Water Interactions 

The Perseverance rover has observed abundant evidence that liquid water persisted in Jezero crater, even after the formation of sedimentary deposits. In parts of the sedimentary fan front in Jezero crater, Perseverance observed evidence of sulfate-rich bedrock and crystalline veins indicating that these minerals formed in a salty lake or perhaps by groundwater that persisted after the lake evaporated. Similar sulfate veins and crystals have been found to contain ancient microbial life on Earth and can tell us a lot about the environment in which they formed. Studying these features with laboratory instruments on Earth will help us understand if potential biosignatures are preserved in these rocks.

Discovering Volcanic Rocks on the Jezero Crater Floor

Prior to the Perseverance rover landing in Jezero crater, scientists hypothesized that the crater was primarily filled with sedimentary rocks deposited in an ancient lake environment. However, the rover discovered that rocks at its landing site were igneous rather than sedimentary and formed from a mix of underground magma and volcanic activity on the surface. Samples from these rocks will be crucial for determining the ages of rocks in and around Jezero crater as they contain crystals that record information about the precise moment they formed.

Preparing for Future Exploration

In addition to the groundbreaking scientific discoveries in the past five years , the Mars 2020 mission has also helped lay the groundwork for future robotic and human exploration. The Ingenuity helicopter made the first ever powered flight on another planet, just a few months after Perseverance and its stowaway helicopter landed in Jezero. While this technology demonstration was only planned to conduct a few flights over 30 days, the little helicopter was able to keep up with Perseverance for nearly three years and flew over 17 kilometers (11 miles) over 72 flights. The success of Ingenuity demonstrated the utility of helicopters for exploration. Future Mars missions will likely use even larger helicopters to help scout out new areas, conduct scientific analyses, and even carry samples or equipment.

Additionally, Perseverance utilized a new device called MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) to produce oxygen for the very first time on Mars using only carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere and electricity generated onboard the rover. This technology demonstration completed its mission in September 2023 and helped pave the way for future human missions to Mars and elsewhere in the solar system as oxygen is a crucial resource for humans to survive and explore beyond Earth.