![[서울신문] Earth robot’s first wheel mark engraved on Mars… Success in the performance driving](https://img.seoul.co.kr/img/upload/2021/03/06/SSI_20210306204647.jpg "[서울신문] Earth robot’s first wheel mark engraved on Mars… Success in the performance driving")
U.S. Mars exploration robot, the first test run, aims to find traces of ancient creatures
▲ The US NASA’s Mars exploration robot Perservation left a wheel mark on the soil of a crater as an example on Mars on the 4th. yunhap news
NASA announced on the 5th (local time) that the U.S. Mars exploration robot Perseverance has successfully completed its first test run on Mars.
According to foreign media such as Reuters, the Persistence Rover (exploration robot) succeeded in moving 6.5m for 33 minutes from’Jezero Crater’, the landing site of Mars, on the 4th in the U.S. time.
After receiving a remote command from the NASA Jet Propulsion Research Institute (JTL) in Pasadena near Los Angeles, it first advanced 4m, then turned 150° to the left, and went back 2.5m to finish the test run.
It was the first Mars surface drive of Perservance, which took place two weeks after safely landing on Mars on the 18th of last month.
Anais Zarypian, an engineer in charge of JTL’s personal mobility, said at a remote press conference that day, “they have advanced incredibly well,” and said that it was a “significant progress” in the Mars exploration mission.
▲ On the 6th, NASA announced that the Mars exploration robot Perseverance has succeeded in driving Mars for the first time. The picture shows the traces of the roving robot. yunhap news
NASA also released a photo sent by Perservance from Mars that day, which, for example, clearly shows the wheel marks left by the movement of Perservance on the red soil of the crater. An additional test run will be conducted on the 5th to 6th day of local time in the United States.
America’s fifth Mars exploration rover Perservation, which settled on Mars on the 18th of last month, travels 25 km for two years, collecting soil and rocks from Mars, and is tasked with finding traces of life billions of years ago.
The average daily driving capacity of a personal car-sized person is about 200m.
As an example of Mars where this probe landed, the crater is believed to be an ancient delta formed by deposits of sediments carried by a river flow 3.5 billion years ago.
Space scientists in the United States are hoping that in the soil and rock formations of this area, Perseverance will be able to uncover fossils that show the existence of ancient Martian microbes.
Reporter Yoon Chang-soo [email protected]