There’s a childlike joy to running flat out to get to someplace exciting.
That’s the sort of modeNASA’sPerseverance Mars rover is in right now.
Perseverance is heading to an enthralling river delta region and it’s going at breakneck speed.
The now-dry crater has an intriguing history of water.
The delta is of particular interest as a spot that could provide insights into the planet’s past habitability.
Percy is trying to find out if Mars ever hosted ancient microbial life.
“We’ll be taking lots of images of the delta during that drive.
The closer we get, the more impressive those images will be.”
If all goes well, it will cover more distance in a single month than any previous rover.
NASA JPL shared avideo tracing the rover’s routeto the delta.
NASA calls this “thinking while driving.”
Once Percy reaches the delta, NASA will be looking for tempting rocks to collect.
Those samples will hopefully be brought back to Earth by a future mission.
Will what it finds in the delta change what we know about the habitability of Mars?
NASA is putting the pedal to the metal to find out.
