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Overview of Mars Rovers

Mars rovers are motor vehicles that travel across the surface of Mars to examine more territory than stationary landers. There have been six successful Mars rovers as of 2021, including Sojourner in 1997, Opportunity and Spirit in 2004, Curiosity in 2012, and Perseverance and China's Zhurong in 2021. Rovers help scientists understand Mars by driving to different areas to study the chemical composition of rocks and learn about past environments on the planet.

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Cherane Christopher
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57 views12 pages

Overview of Mars Rovers

Mars rovers are motor vehicles that travel across the surface of Mars to examine more territory than stationary landers. There have been six successful Mars rovers as of 2021, including Sojourner in 1997, Opportunity and Spirit in 2004, Curiosity in 2012, and Perseverance and China's Zhurong in 2021. Rovers help scientists understand Mars by driving to different areas to study the chemical composition of rocks and learn about past environments on the planet.

Uploaded by

Cherane Christopher
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Introduction to Mars Rovers
  • Rovers vs Landers
  • Mars Rovers Over the Years
  • Rover Missions
  • Importance of Rovers
  • Tribute to Opportunity

Mars Rover

What is it?

• A Mars rover is a motor vehicle that


travels across the surface of the
planet Mars upon arrival.
Rovers VS Landers

• Rovers have several advantages


over stationary landers: they
examine more territory, they can
be directed to interesting
features, they can place
themselves in sunny positions to
weather winter months, and they
can advance the knowledge of
how to perform very remote
robotic vehicle control.
Mars Rovers over the years
• As of May 2021, there have been six successful robotically operated Mars
rovers, the first five managed by the American NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory:
• Sojourner (1997),
• Opportunity (2004),
• Spirit (2004),
• Curiosity (2012), and
• Perseverance (2021).
• The sixth is Zhurong (2021), managed by the China National Space
Administration.
Rover Missions
• Sojourner (1997), The original
mission was scheduled to last for
30 days, but the lander and
Sojourner continued to transmit
data until September 27, 1997
when contact with the lander was
lost.
• Opportunity (2004), begin
traversing the Red Planet in
search of signs of past life. The
rover is still actively exploring the
Martian terrain, having far
outlasted her planned 90-day
mission.
• Spirit (2004), Search for and
characterize a variety of rocks and
soils that hold clues to past water
activity
• Curiosity (2012), NASA's Curiosity
rover landed on Mars in 2012 to
search for evidence that the
planet could once have supported
Earth-like [Link]
(2021).
• Perseverance (2021) NASA's Perseverance rover will search for past
life on Mars and store samples for future return to Earth.
• The sixth is Zhurong (2021), China’s first Mars mission will search
for pockets of water beneath the surface that could host life.
Why are rovers so important?
• Since the 1970s, scientists have been sending spacecraft to Mars. Several different types of
spacecraft have been sent to the Red Planet over the years, and they all have different specialties.
One type, called orbiters, orbit Mars, taking pictures as they zoom around the planet. Other
spacecraft, called landers, provide photos and information from their landing spots on the surface
of Mars.

• Rovers have wheels and specialize in moving around. They land on the surface of Mars and drive
around to different spots.

• Rovers help scientists in their quest to understand what different parts of the planet are made of.
Mars is made up of lots of different types of rocks, and each rock is made up of a mixture of
chemicals. A rover can drive around to different areas, studying the different chemicals in each
rock. These chemicals can tell scientists something about the environments that changed that rock
over time.
RIP

• NASA's Opportunity, the Mars


rover that was built to operate
just three months but kept going
and going, was pronounced dead
Wednesday, 15 years after it
landed on the red planet.

Mars Rover Mars Rover
What is it? • A Mars rover is a motor vehicle that travels across the surface of the planet Mars upon arrival.
Rovers VS Landers • Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be direc
Mars Rovers over the years • As of May 2021, there have been six successful robotically operated Mars rovers, the first five
Rover Missions • Sojourner (1997), The original mission was scheduled to last for 30 days, but the lander and Sojourner co
• Opportunity (2004), begin traversing the Red Planet in search of signs of past life. The rover is still actively explori
• Curiosity (2012), NASA's Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012 to search for evidence that the planet could once have s
• Perseverance (2021) NASA's Perseverance rover will search for past life on Mars and store samples for future return to Ear

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