Perseverance Has Been Carrying a Rock in its Wheel for Over 100 Days

By Nancy Atkinson - June 10, 2022 at 10:50 AM UTC | Planetary Science
FLF_0343_0697397216_660EBY_N0092982FHAZ02008_06_0LLJ01_1200.jpg

Why does a Mars rover have a rock in one of its wheels? Maybe it's because a rover doesn't have pockets.

Who among us hasn't picked up a great rock, carried it around, maybe saved it for a long time, or even placed it somewhere safe or special? The Perseverance rover is doing just that, having carried a random Mars rock in its wheel for quite some time.

Back in early February, 2022 on Earth, about sol 341 for the lifetime of Perseverance on Mars, a rock ended up in the rover's left front wheel. The rock has now been riding around with the rover for over 100 sols. NASA says the rock isn't doing any damage, and the rover team estimates the rock has now traveled more than 8.5 kilometers (5.3 miles) from its original location.

Planetary scientist Paul Byrne did come up with a potential down-side to the rock in the wheel:

?s=20&t=p2mGVSOFuboLnB7QpgupTQ

Maybe the microphone on Perseverance can capture some of that annoying grinding, clanking sound?

As Eleni Ravanis, a student collaborator with the Perseverance mission from University of Hawai?i at M?no, writes in a NASA blog post, this is not the first time a rock has hitched a ride on a Mars rover mission. Over 18 years ago, the Spirit rover picked up a "potato-sized" rock in its right rear wheel, and throughout the Curiosity rover mission, various rocks have gotten lodged or found its way inside the wheels.

"While it's unclear exactly how long these rocks stuck around," wrote Ravanis, "they tended to hop off after a few weeks. Perseverance's current companion is therefore on its way to setting Mars hitch-hiking records!"

Maybe pet rocks are a popular fad on Mars.

The rock shows up in various images taken by the rover, especially in pictures taken by the Left Hazard Avoidance Camera. Scientists and engineers for the mission are definitely keeping an eye on the rock, hoping to see where and when the rock might fall out.

"If it does so, it will land amongst rocks that we expect to be very different from itself," Ravaini said. "As one of our team members quipped this week, "we might confuse a future Mars geologist who finds it out of place!"

Lead image caption: NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of a rock inside the rover's wheel, along with the area in front of it using its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A. This image was acquired on May 26, 2022 (Sol 449) at the local mean solar time of 15:39:48. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com