About the Mission
As described on NASA’s website:
“The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover searches for signs of ancient microbial life, to advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars. The rover is collecting core samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and soil), for potential pickup by a future mission that would bring them to Earth for detailed study.“
My Contribution
As a mechatronics engineer on this mission, I led a piece of hardware called the abrading drill bit from early development through use on Mars. I was responsible for the design, assembly, test, delivery, and flight operation of this drill bit.
The abrading drill bit is used to remove the outer layer of rock that may have been changed by the Martian environment, allowing the rover’s suite of instruments to study the unaltered rock underneath. Information from those instruments helps scientists on the mission decide whether to collect a sample from that rock.
Blog Posts
During rover operations, I was a contributor to the Mars 2020 mission blog. You can read my posts here:
The Latest from the Rover
Here are some ways to see the very latest from the Perseverance rover:
