Mars High-Tech Duo: Perseverance Ingenuity Quiz

Perseverance is the first rover specifically designed for "astrobiology." While Curiosity looked for "habitable" environments, Perseverance is actively looking for physical evidence—biosignatures—that life actually existed in Mars' past.

True. Ingenuity's first flight on April 19, 2021, was a "Wright Brothers moment." Because the Martian atmosphere is only 1% as thick as Earth's, Ingenuity had to be extremely light and spin its blades at 2,400 RPM to get lift.

Jezero Crater was chosen because its visible river delta likely trapped and preserved organic molecules or signs of life in its sediments billions of years ago. It is considered one of the best places on Mars to look for ancient life.

While Curiosity also uses a nuclear battery, Perseverance carries MOXIE to turn Martian CO2 into oxygen and a complex system to seal rock cores in tubes for a future "Mars Sample Return" mission.

Perseverance is "caching" samples. It drills core samples, seals them in ultra-clean titanium tubes, and leaves them in specific "drop zones." A future mission will land, collect these tubes, and launch them back to Earth.

True. MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) successfully converted some of Mars' carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into small amounts of pure oxygen. This technology is vital for future human missions and rocket fuel production.

To generate enough lift in the thin Martian air, Ingenuity’s blades have to be much larger relative to its body and spin about 10 times faster than a standard helicopter on Earth.

SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) uses a laser to detect chemicals and minerals that have been altered by watery environments or that might be signs of past life.

Originally a 30-day technology demo, Ingenuity was so successful it was promoted to "operational scout." It flew many times over 3 years, helping the rover team find safe paths and interesting rocks from the air.

MEDA measures temperature, wind speed, pressure, humidity, and the amount of dust in the air. This "weather report" helps scientists understand the current climate of Jezero Crater and how it affects the rover and helicopter.

True. Perseverance carries two microphones. These have allowed us to hear the "crunch" of the rover's wheels on the soil, the "whir" of Ingenuity’s blades, and the eerie, quiet sound of the Martian wind for the first time.

SuperCam fires a laser at a rock to create a tiny cloud of plasma. A camera and spectrometer then study the light from that plasma to tell what the rock is made of from a distance, saving the rover from driving to every single rock.

Bringing rocks back from Mars is so difficult that it requires two major agencies to work together. NASA will build the lander and the Mars ascent rocket, while the ESA will provide the "fetch rover" or help with the return orbiter.

Like Curiosity, Perseverance used the "Sky Crane" method because it is far too heavy for airbags. It also used "Terrain-Relative Navigation," a computer system that took photos during the descent to pick the safest landing spot in real-time.

RIMFAX (Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment) sends radar pulses into the ground. It allows scientists to see the buried layers of rock and ice up to 30 feet below the surface, revealing the geological history of Jezero Crater.

True. Perseverance has a total of 23 cameras! These include engineering cameras for driving, science cameras for high-definition photos, and specialized cameras to watch the landing and monitor the helicopter.

Scale is a major part of MS-ESS1-3. Sojourner (1997) was the size of a microwave. Perseverance (2021) is the size of a car, weighs over 2,200 lbs, and carries much more complex laboratory equipment to investigate the solar system.

The helicopter didn't have enough power to talk to Earth directly. It used a short-range radio to talk to Perseverance. The rover then acted as a relay, sending the helicopter's photos and flight data to satellites in Mars orbit.

Organic molecules contain carbon and are the foundations of life, but they can also be made by non-living chemical processes. Finding them helps scientists understand if Mars once had the "ingredients" for life to start.

After 72 successful flights, Ingenuity had a hard landing that damaged its rotor blades, making it unable to fly again. It remains at its final landing site ("Valnor Hills") as a stationary weather station and a monument to the first flight on another world.