Mars Guy: Episode 239.
Mars is notorious for having copious amounts of dust, so when the dust cover of the highest resolution camera on Perseverance could not be closed, it seemed doomed. Here’s what’s happened after 21 months uncovered.
#solarocks
10 posts7 participants0 posts today
Continued thread
Hm… The sample tube seems to be empty 
. This has happened again on the way down the rim of Jezero Crater, IIRC.
Processed CACHECAM
looking down from RMC 80.0000
Sol 1671, LMST: 17:15:40
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
So, #Perseverance has found that rock with the black squiggle and other dark spots so interesting that a sample had to be had?
It certainly looks so. At least, there seems to be a coring operation already finished here. Waiting for more images to arrive.
h/t @PaulHammond51
Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped FRONT_HAZCAM_LEFT_A
looking SE (134°) from RMC 80.0000
Sol 1671, LMST: 14:51:36
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Despite having already laser-zapped it on Sol 1660, #Perseverance came back to the same spot to zap that black squiggle at the center again.
The second image is an attempt to cross-eye 3D the squiggle. Not much success at that separation, though.
Processed, overlaid SUPERCAM_RMI pair
looking ESE (111°) from RMC 80.0000
Sol 1670, LMST: 11:02:10
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01670/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1670_0815188484_220EBY_N0800000SCAM05670_0010I6J01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01670/ids/edr/browse/scam/LRF_1670_0815189573_269EBY_N0800000SCAM05670_0050I6J01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/65dBnoise
Another Paul Delvaux moment for #Perseverance, capturing a dark northeastern sky above the Jezero Crater rim
Processed, undistorted, leveled, cropped NAVCAM_LEFT
looking NNE (24°) from RMC 80.0000
Sol 1669, LMST: 14:59:51
Credit:
#NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Paul Delvaux: Landscape with Lanterns (1958)
Continued thread
#Perseverance has become a nightmare for those rocks. Here it reappears in front of a previous victim, ready to harass it again 
Processed, undistorted NAVCAM_RIGHT
looking ESE (116°) from RMC 80.0000
Sol 1669, LMST: 12:31:44
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
#Perseverance is now revisiting the abrasion at RMC 79.1382, the one with the dark inclusions, remember? Not only that, but it's now positioned with the abrasion inside its workspace. The change to RMC 80.0000 suggests it will probably examine the same rock again.
The abrasion was seen previously in these posts (3D images too):
https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/115411342090730451
https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/115356533637867245
https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/115356644657232613
https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/115383683584421867
https://mastodon.social/@65dBnoise/115417891357010292
There is a couple of those black inclusions inside the abrasion pit. Again.
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking down (-75°) from RMC 79.1382
Sol 1650, LMST: 11:58:41
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Black grains of unknown (yet) mineral in #Perseverance's last abrasion. Most seem to be about 150μm in diameter.
Processed SUPERCAM_RMI
looking NNE (20°) from RMC 79.1762
Sol 1668, LMST: 11:04:37
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/65dBnoise
Three night-time WATSON images captured under artificial light were overlaid on one daylight one to flatten and enhance this extreme close up view of #Perseverance's last abrasion.
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking down (-70°) from RMC 79.1762
Sol 1667, LMST: 11:58:25
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01667/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1667_0814925609_527EBY_N0791762SRLC00472_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01667/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1667_0814962436_191EBY_N0791762SRLC08062_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01667/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1667_0814962453_328EBY_N0791762SRLC08062_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01667/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1667_0814962473_527EBY_N0791762SRLC08062_0000LMJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Meanwhile on Mars:
A Bayer reconstructed Mast Camera Mosaic from Sol 4700 (October 26, 2025). It features a section of the rocky ridge that surrounds the shallow depression in the boxwork region on Mount Sharp, where Curiosity rover is presently stationed after drilling a small hole in the bedrock to extract a portion of powdered rock for analysis.
Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/fredk
Fresh JWST view of Uranus taken Oct 6 2025 with NIRCam.
Full size & more info: https://flic.kr/p/2rByidu
Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI/Andrea Luck CC BY
Proposal PI: Varun Bajaj
Proposal ID: 8975
Filters: F150W2-F162M, F410M
Meanwhile on Mars: An uphill drive lasting ~67 minutes for Perseverance rover during mission Sol 1661 (October 22, 2025). The distance was ~44 meters due north, climbing ~9.2 meters, with an end-of-drive tilt of 18.7°.
Attached is a processed rear HazCam image looking downslope at its wheel tracks, the drive data, and screen captures of the updated mission map (with scale bars).
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UofA
That dark inclusion again in shaded daylight and artificial light at night.
You can try cross-eyed 3D, but don't expect much.
Processed, cropped SHERLOC_WATSON pair
looking down (-75°) from RMC 79.1382
Sol 1660, LMST: 23:27:29
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01660/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1660_0814309693_539EBY_N0791382SRLC00478_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01660/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1660_0814346668_214EBY_N0791382SRLC08046_0000LMJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Replied to Paul Hammond
@PaulHammond51
They are pits/pores, indeed:
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking W (277°) from RMC 79.0870
Sol 1645, LMST: 10:44:07
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
There is a couple of those black inclusions inside the abrasion pit. Again.
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking down (-75°) from RMC 79.1382
Sol 1650, LMST: 11:58:41
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
Those tiny little dark specks again…
Are they just tiny holes in the rock or actual dark mineral?
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking W (277°) from RMC 79.0870
Sol 1645, LMST: 10:28:20
Originals:
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01645/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1645_0812967019_796EBY_N0790870SRLC01166_0000LMJ01.png
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01645/ids/edr/browse/shrlc/SIF_1645_0812967200_324EBY_N0790870SRLC01166_0000LMJ01.png
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
I, too, would be very interested to know what all those pitch black spots are made of.
Processed SHERLOC_WATSON
looking down (-75°) from RMC 79.1382
Sol 1653, LMST: 22:29:15
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/65dBnoise
9 overlapping ChemCam RMI images acquired during sol 4687 assembled into a mosaic using MS-ICE. Curiosity rover acquired additional images, but they have yet to be downlinked from the rover in the correct format on the public server. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/IRAP
Hoodie
(no one inside, or, if there was one, now it's dust in the wind 
)
Processed MCZ_LEFT, FL: 110mm
looking SSE (162°) from RMC 79.0870
Sol 1644, LMST: 11:59:31
Credit: #NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/65dBnoise