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Continuing the Quest for Clays NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image showing the target “Jigging Cove,” named by Make-A-Wish participant Madeline, located in the center of the image. Perseverance used its Left Mastcam-Z camera, one of a pair of cameras located high on the rover’s mast, to capture the image on June 27, 2025 (Sol 1547, or Martian day 1,547 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 11:26:04. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University

For the past month and a half, Perseverance has been exploring the Krokodillen plateau in search of clay-bearing rocks. An earlier blog discussed that these rocks could hold clues to Mars’ watery past, and Perseverance has been exploring multiple potential locations to find a suitable target to sample. When a coring target could not be found at the previous outcrop, the Science Team decided to return to the “Main Topsail” locality. In a single drive to this area, Perseverance drove 411.7 meters (1,350.7 feet, or just over a quarter mile) — the longest driving distance ever accomplished by a robotic vehicle on another planet. Go, Percy, go! 

Back in the region near “Main Topsail” and “Salmon Point,” the team attempted to abrade and sample the clay-bearing rocks at a few different targets. These rocks, however, are proving very breakable and difficult to sample and abrade. Perseverance has experienced challenging fine-grained rocks before, such as during the fan front campaign inside Jezero crater. In that scenario and this one, the Science and Engineering teams work together diligently to find the highest priority targets and find rocks that could withstand the abrasion and coring processes. In this case, the team has decided to return to the site of a previous abrasion, “Strong Island,” to sample the rock we have already abraded and analyzed. This abrasion showed the strong clay signature the team is looking to sample, and we will make another coring attempt this week. 

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image of the target “Gallants,” named by Make-A-Wish participant Joshua, located in the lower left quadrant of the image. Perseverance used its onboard Left Navigation Camera (Navcam), which is located high on the rover’s mast and aids in driving, to capture the image on July 1, 2025 (Sol 1551 or Martian day 1,551 of the Mars 2020 mission), at the local mean solar time of 13:10:08. NASA/JPL-Caltech

This past week, the Perseverance team hosted two very special visitors, Madeline and Joshua, and had the unique honor of fulfilling their wishes through the Make-A-Wish foundation. During their visits to JPL, Madeline and Joshua were named honorary Mars 2020 Operations Team Members. They visited the test rovers in the JPL Mars Yard, watched data arrive from the rover with the Perseverance operations team, and attended a rover planning meeting, collaborating with the science and engineering team members on campus. Madeline and Joshua will forever be connected to the Mars 2020 mission, as each selected the name of one of our planning targets. Madeline’s target, “Jigging Cove,” was a target for Mastcam-Z and SuperCam “all techniques” analysis, including LIBS, VISIR, and RMI. Joshua’s selection, “Gallants,” will be used for the next coring target. Carrying forward the resilience shown by Madeline and Joshua, Perseverance will attempt to sample this clay-rich bedrock before continuing the investigation along the Jezero crater rim. 

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Jul 08, 2025

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