Current weather data on Mars is being monitored by the Curiosity rover and the Insight lander.[2][3] The Perseverance rover is also collecting weather data. (See the External links section)
4 December 2012: Mars 2020 mission announced by NASA.
8–10 February 2017: Workshop held to discuss eight proposed landing sites for the mission. The three sites chosen were Jezero crater, Northeastern Syrtis Major Planum, and Columbia Hills.
February 18: a new crater appears on Mars after impact of the 77-kg piece of tungsten thrown down during the EDL stage
After arriving on the 18th of February, Perseverance focused on validating its systems. During this phase, it used its science instruments for the first time,[4] generated oxygen on Mars with MOXIE,[5] and deployed Ingenuity. Ingenuity began the technology demonstration phase of its mission, completing five flights before transitioning to the operations demonstration phase of its mission.
8 April 2021: NASA reported the first MEDA weather report on Mars: for 3–4 April 2021, the high was "minus-7.6 degrees, and a low of minus-117.4 degrees ... [winds] gusting to ... 22 mph".[7]
19 April 2021: First major flight test of Ingenuity
30 April 2021: Fourth flight test of Ingenuity.[9]
7 May 2021: Fifth flight test of Ingenuity.[10] First one-way flight on Mars. Ingenuity's mission transitions from being a technology demonstration to being an operations demonstration.[11][12]
22 May 2021: Sixth flight test of Ingenuity, first of the operations demonstration.[13] A glitch with the navigation system caused the helicopter to land 5 meters away from its intended landing site.[14]
Perseverance's first test drive (4 March 2021)
Rover's first wheel tracks
Rover's first test drive (animation-gif)
Rocket scour and tracks
Cratered floor campaign (June 2021-April 2022)
Perseverance rover - map of the first science campaign (yellow lines, below the landing site). The blue lines above the landing site correspond to the planned second campaign,[15] although the second campaign did not officially start until the arrival of the rover at Three Forks.
The Cratered Floor Campaign was the first science campaign.[16] It began on 1 June 2021, with the goal of exploring the Crater Floor Fractured Rough and Séítah geologic units. To avoid the sand dunes of the Séítah unit, Perseverance will mostly travel within the Crater Floor Fractured Rough geologic unit or along the boundary between the two units. The first of Perseverance's sample tubes are planned to be filled during this expedition.[15]
After collecting the samples, Perseverance will return to its landing site, before continuing to the delta for its second science campaign. At some point, it will store the filled sample tubes in a designated area for the upcoming Mars sample-return mission.[17] While Perseverance embarked on its first science campaign, Ingenuity continued to travel alongside the rover as part of its operations demonstration campaign.[11]
1 June 2021: Perseverance begins its first science campaign.[15]
21 June 2021: Eighth flight of Ingenuity. The “watchdog issue”, a recurring issue which occasionally prevented Ingenuity from taking flight, is fixed.[19]
5 July 2021: Ninth flight of Ingenuity. This flight is the first to explore areas only an aerial vehicle can, by taking a shortcut over the Séítah unit. The sandy ripples of the Séítah unit would prove too difficult for Perseverance to travel through directly.[20][21][22]
7 July 2021: To test its sampling system, the rover ran one sample tube through inspection, sealing and storing and the attempt was successful. Up to this point, the rover has now used 1 of its 43 sample tubes.[23]
5-6 August 2021: Perseverance attempted to acquire its first sample from the ancient lakebed by drilling out "finger-size cores of Martian rock for return to Earth."[26][27][28] This attempt did not succeed, as the rock sampled was not sufficiently consolidated to produce an intact core and has turned to dust.[29] Up to this point, the rover has now used 2 of its 43 sample tubes.[30] Later on, the mission team confirmed that though soil samples were not cached, but in this process the rover cached the gas samples of the martian atmosphere in it, being the first gas samples cached by the rover.[31]
15 November 2021: A sample was taken from the Brac Outcrop in the South Séítah Unit.
21 November 2021: Sixteenth flight of Ingenuity.[38][39]
24 November 2021: Another sample was taken from the Brac Outcrop.
5 December 2021: Seventeenth flight of Ingenuity. Full data from the flight was not received until later, as Ingenuity initially landed in an area which prevented communication with the rover.[40]
15 December 2021: Eighteenth flight of Ingenuity.
18 December 2021: A sample was taken from Issole in the South Séítah Unit.
29 December 2021: Perseverance attempted to take another sample from Issole, but was unable to successfully cache it.
31 January 2022: The failed sample attempt from Issole was abandoned, and a new, successful sample attempt was made on Issole.
8 February 2022: Nineteenth flight of Ingenuity. It had been planned for earlier, but a dust storm in the area caused delays.
25 February 2022: Twentieth flight of Ingenuity.
7 March 2022: A sample was taken from Sid in the Séítah Unit.
10 March 2022: Twenty-first flight of Ingenuity.
13 March 2022: A second sample was taken from Sid in the Séítah Unit.
20 March 2022: Twenty-second flight of Ingenuity.
24 March 2022: Twenty-third flight of Ingenuity.
28 March 2022: Perseverance enters rapid traverse mode, where it will remain for the rest of the science campaign.[41]
3 April 2022: Twenty-fourth flight of Ingenuity.
8 April 2022: Twenty-fifth flight of Ingenuity. This flight went faster than all previous flights, at a speed of 5.5 meters per second. It also travelled 704 meters, which was farther than all previous flights.[42]
13 April 2022: Perseverance arrives at the Jezero Delta.[43]
Entry-descent-landing debris
Ingenuity photographed the spacecraft backshell and parachute (April 19).[44]
Perseverance photographed the spacecraft backshell and parachute (April 14).
Ingenuity photographed an apparent EDL debris (April 3).
Perseverance photographed a thermal blanket from the skycrane 2 km (1.2 mi) away from its crash site.
Delta front campaign (April 2022 - Present)
In blue, the planned traverse of Perseverance. The second science campaign began just before the background map transitions to black and white.
The Delta Front Campaign is the second, currently ongoing science campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. Ingenuity continues to travel alongside the rover as part of its operations demonstration campaign. Once Perseverance traverses to the top of the delta, it is expected to begin the third science campaign - the Delta Top Campaign.[45]
18 April 2022: Perseverance officially begins the Delta Front Campaign.[45]
19 April 2022: Twenty-sixth flight of Ingenuity.[44]
21 April 2022: Perseverance leaves rapid traverse mode.[46]
23 April 2022: Twenty-seventh flight of Ingenuity.
27 April 2022: NASA released images of the backshell that detached from the vehicle containing the Perseverance rover (and companion Ingenuity helicopter) during the landing phase on Mars in February 2021. The backshell and associated parachute were found about a mile from the landing site and images were taken by the companion helicopter during its 26th flight.[44]
3 May 2022: NASA loses contact with Ingenuity due to it running out of power during the night.[47]
5 May 2022: Contact with Ingenuity is regained. To avoid depleting the power, Ingenuity's heaters will not activate when battery temperature drops below -15° Celsius. Ingenuity instead will turn off all electronics when the temperature drops below -40°.[48]
In the frame of the Mars sample-return mission around 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of soil samples along with some Martian gas samples from the atmosphere will be cached. Currently, samples are being cached by Mars 2020Perseverance Rover on the surface of Mars. Out of 43 sample tubes, rock sample tubes cached-8,[49] gas sample tubes cached-1,[31] witness tubes cached-1,[23] tubes due to be cached-33. Before launch, 5 of the 43 tubes were designated “witness tubes” and filled with materials that would capture particulates in the ambient environment of Mars.[50]
This was taken as a dry-run in preparation for later sampling attempts, and did not aim to sample a rock.
Tube 2
6 August 2021 (Sol 164)
Atmospheric Gas
Roubion (failed attempt of caching rock sample)
Roubion
N/A
Polygon Valley, Cratered Floor Fractured Rough Unit[53]
Attempted to sample the rock but did not succeed, as they didn't reach the bit carousel and the caching system stored and sealed an empty tube. However in this process, it collected atmospheric samples.
N/A (Abandoned sample from this site due to Core Bit Dropoff.)
N/A
Pebble-sized debris from the first sample fell into the bit carousel during transfer of the coring bit, which blocked the successful caching of the sample.[60] It was decided to abandon this sample and do a second sampling attempt again. Subsequent tests and measures cleared remaining samples in tube and debris in caching system[61][62] The tube was reused for second sample attempt, which was successful.
Perseverance rover track and Ingenuity helicopter flight zone seen after rover had reached Van Zyl Overlook
Ingenuity helicopter flight path and Perseverance Traverse Path showing their current locations. Live link
The distance traveled over time of Perseverance and Ingenuity
26035 Map-of-Ingenuitys-Ninth-Flight-Path
Perseverance enters Séítah on sol 201
Perseverance rover viewed from space (28 September 2021)
Flight Profile for Ingenuity's Flight 15
Dust storm on Mars - Jezero crater (white circle) (9 January 2022)
Positioning before the 2021 solar conjunction R210 is the rover position on sol 210; H163 1, H174 2 and H193 3 means 1st, 2nd and 3rd landing sites of Ingenuity on the Field H on sols 163, 174 and 193 respectively
^All images taken by Ingenuity are taken from black-and-white downward-facing navigation camera or horizon-facing terrain camera[66]
^Ingenuity legs are seen clearly on the corners of the each image
^Perseverance rover wheels are clearly seen in top corners
^ abPlease see the difference between the image on high-speed spin up test and the one on sol 48, that is the image on sol 48 has the upper blade in diagonal position while the high-speed spin up test has lower blade in diagonal position
^note the difference it is on earth and run by electric cables, while perseverance is on Mars run by MMRTG
^Laboratory, Håvard Grip, Chief Pilot & Bob Balaram, Chief Engineer for the Mars Helicopter Project at NASA's Jet Propulsion. "We're Going Big for Flight 9". mars.nasa.gov. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
![Perseverance rover - map of the first science campaign (yellow lines, below the landing site). The blue lines above the landing site correspond to the planned second campaign,[15] although the second campaign did not officially start until the arrival of the rover at Three Forks.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Perseverance_First_Two_Missions_Paths_Distinguished.png/1200px-Perseverance_First_Two_Missions_Paths_Distinguished.png)
![Octavia E. Butler Landing In Jezero Crater(5 March 2021)[6]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/PIA24483-MarsPerseveranceRover-OctaviaEButler-LandingSite-20210305.jpg/240px-PIA24483-MarsPerseveranceRover-OctaviaEButler-LandingSite-20210305.jpg)
![Mastcam-Z Calibration target[64]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/MarsPerseveranceRover-CalibrationTarget-20210220.png/240px-MarsPerseveranceRover-CalibrationTarget-20210220.png)
!["Family Portrait" decal close-up (with text labels added)[64]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/MarsPerseveranceRover-FamilyPortrait-20210225.jpg/240px-MarsPerseveranceRover-FamilyPortrait-20210225.jpg)
![The full-scale engineering model of NASA's Perseverance rover, OPTIMISM Rover[f]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/The_full-scale_engineering_model_of_NASA%27s_Perseverance_rover%2C_OPTIMISM_Rover.jpg/240px-The_full-scale_engineering_model_of_NASA%27s_Perseverance_rover%2C_OPTIMISM_Rover.jpg)
