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Software engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory unveiled new interactive online projects Thursday that offer the public a glimpse of what it would be like to trek across the Red Planet along with the Perseverance Mars Rover.
The two new features on JPL’s website allow users to track the rover’s progress and surroundings, in real time, with both 3D graphics and photos taken by the rover and spacecraft orbiting overhead, the agency said in a written statement.
“It’s the next best thing to being on Mars,” according to the statement.
One of the new features, called “Explore With Perseverance,” aims to provide an immersive 3D experience.
“It’s the best reconstruction available of what Mars looks like,” said JPL Senior Software Engineer Parker Abercrombie, who is leading the project.
“It’s sometimes hard for people to grasp location and distance from Mars images. It’s not like here on Earth, where you can get your bearings by looking at trees and buildings,” he said. “With the Martian terrain, it can be really hard to wrap your head around what you’re seeing.”
The tool is based on the Advanced Science Targeting Tool for Robotic Operations, or ASTTRO, system used by the Perseverance team to help pick out interesting rocks for study, according to JPL.
“This is a great opportunity for the public to follow along with the mission, using the same type of visualization tools as the mission scientists,” Abercrombie said.
In addition, a new web feature called “Where Is Perseverance?” provides a regularly updated map of the current locations of the Perseverance Rover, along with its partner in exploration, the small autonomous helicopter known as Ingenuity.
The map feature is also based on the ASSTRO system, and users will see information “almost as fast as the engineers and scientists do,” according to the JPL statement.
“The map shows the rover’s route and its stopping points with markers indicating the Martian day, or sol, and you’ll get the overview of where Perseverance and Ingenuity might head next,” the statement said. “Terrain maps like this one allow scientists to spot interesting places to look for possible evidence of ancient life, and you’ll be able to share in the journey.”
“Explore With Perseverance” can be accessed online at mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/surface-experience, while “Where Is Perseverance” can be found at https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/where-is-the-rover.
More information on the Perseverance Mars Rover is available online at https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020.
Related:
Perseverance Mars Rover Coverage
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