NASA Perseverance Rover's Wind Sensor Damaged by Mars Rocks

The Perseverance rover landed on the Red Planet in February 2021 carrying various instruments including a weather station called Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA).

[{"selector":"#anim-3768d82f-f4a8-4a83-b968-5aa3e9de077f [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(31.249999886225726%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

MEDA has two wind sensors to measure the speed and direction that weather metrics such as humidity, radiation and air temperature

[{"selector":"#anim-a01640f2-f30c-4f51-9db6-ebbd1a3f437c [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(34.179687404002955%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

Recently, the Perseverance Rover hit by rocks on the Mars and the MEDA sensor got some serious damage.

[{"selector":"#anim-68dd2a77-48bb-4c6e-a4b7-7b59c6fc78d4 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(28.90461050384291%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7707,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

Mars has a very harsh environment and the International Space Agency faces such issues every now and then, but recent issue is a bit serious.

[{"selector":"#anim-b29834ae-af74-4ec9-a87a-dfd4d9d2d3f6 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(32.42187489333662%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7777,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

The damage is done by the pebbles in MEDA's one of the sensors.

[{"selector":"#anim-a4fea63d-c514-47e5-b541-bd7c02bf1ac6 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(31.249999886225726%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

According to investigator of MEDA, MEDA can still keep track of wind at its landing area in Jezero Crater, but with decreased sensitivity

[{"selector":"#anim-86f4d689-1098-43c1-8d41-9706e326d8b3 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(16.48856380152875%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

The team is now re-tuning the retrieval procedure to get more accuracy from the undamaged detector readings

[{"selector":"#anim-07b4d851-60d9-4902-9314-cb5538f0636f [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(34.18632065876019%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7777,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

All the instruments on Perseverance including the sensors were designed with redundancy and protection in mind, but everything has a limit

[{"selector":"#anim-51738a29-3f2e-455f-8f1e-f631196856a3 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(46.862086662615084%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7890,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

The sensors are exposed to environmental conditions in order to record wind parameters, the chances of damages are high

[{"selector":"#anim-899b844d-8ae1-43e7-bbf4-c190321c1b3f [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(28.90624987200394%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":7787,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}]

Discount Up to 82% Today's Hot Deals for YOU

[{"selector":"#anim-e294060c-305c-4693-a1a2-a52507d01c09 [data-leaf-element=\"true\"]","keyframes":{"transform":["translate3d(21.666666552892387%, 0, 0) translate(25%, 0%) scale(1.5)","translate3d(0%, 0, 0) translate(0%, 0%) scale(1)"]},"delay":0,"duration":5000,"easing":"cubic-bezier(.14,.34,.47,.9)","fill":"forwards"}] Arrow Claim Now