NASA has released the first high-definition 360-degree image from the surface of Mars where the Perseverance rover landed, the U.S. space agency said Wednesday.
The panoramic view shows the edge of the Jezero Crater where the rover stretched down last week and the rock face of an old river delta on the horizon. It was built by turning the crane of the rover 360 degrees. The crane is equipped with accessible dual cameras that can take high definition video and images.
The photo was linked together by NASA researchers from 142 images taken with the Mastcam-Z camera on February 21st.
NASA says the state-of-the-art camera system will help scientists study the geological history and atmospheric position of the crater and identify rocks and sediment from a distance determined by the rover’s instruments, before collecting to return to Earth finally.
Jezero Crater is an area where scientists are hoping to find evidence of the previous existence of microbes on Mars. Mars had water on its surface billions of years ago, a fact that has led to the speculation that there may have been some sort of life on the planet.
“We’re nestled right in a sweet spot, where you’ll see a variety of features similar in many ways to traits found with Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity at their landing sites,” said Jim Bell of the School of Earth Survey and Arizona State University Space.
Perseverance traveled through space for nearly seven months after launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Spirit, Opportunity and Knowledge were the previous messages to Mars. The rover joins NASA’s InSight lander, which has been on the Martian surface since 2018, and the Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in 2012.
Persistence is expected to study the surface of Mars for at least two years while studying the climate and geology and collecting rock and earth samples.
On Monday, the U.S. space agency released the first soundtrack from Mars, a slow recording of wind gusts captured by the rover’s microphone. NASA also released a video of the rover’s departure, which is on a mission to find traces of a past life on the red planet.