08/03/2020 – Ephemeris – What is the Perseverance Rover going to do on Mars?

This is Ephemeris for Monday, August 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 9:05, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:33. The Moon, at full today, will rise at 9:35 this evening.

The Mars Perseverance Rover looks a lot like the Curiosity Rover that landed on Mars in Gale Crater almost exactly 8 years ago (Earth years that is). It has more and better cameras, some different tools on its arm. It will have a laser like Curiosity. It can take core samples and store them in sealed tubes for later return to the Earth. It has an experimental helicopter drone named Ingenuity that must, like the rover be autonomous since it cannot be controlled in real-time from the Earth. The main mission this time is to look for signs of life in a spot we know water had flowed in the ancient past. The surface water and the life is long gone, but there might be signs that it might have been present in the distant past before Mars lost most of its atmosphere and water.

The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Artist rendition of the Mars 2020 “Endurance” Rover. Credit NASA.

Artist’s concept of the Mars Helicopter “Ingenuity”. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.