NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI
The Mastcam-Z camera recorded video of Phobos, one of the Red Planet’s two moons, to study how its orbit is changing over time.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover acquired stunning footage of Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon, crossing the face of the Sun. These observations can aid scientists in better understanding the moon’s orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the Red Planet’s crust and mantle.
Captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera on April 2, 2022, the 397th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, the eclipse lasted a little over 40 seconds – much shorter than a typical solar eclipse involving Earth’s Moon. (Phobos is about 157 times smaller than Earth’s Moon. Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is even smaller.)
The images are the latest in a long history of NASA spacecraft capturing solar eclipses on Mars. Back in 2004, the twin NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity took the first time-lapse photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse. Curiosity continued the trend with videos shot by its Mastcam camera system.
But Perseverance, which landed in February 2021, has provided the most zoomed-in video of a Phobos solar eclipse yet – and at the highest-frame rate ever. That’s thanks to Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera system, a zoomable upgrade from Curiosity’s Mastcam.
“I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t expect it to be this amazing,” said Rachel Howson of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, one of the Mastcam-Z team members who operates the camera.
The twin Mastcam-Z cameras, shown with a pocket knife for scale, are assembled and ready for testing in this photo taken at Malin Space Science Systems, in San Diego, California. One of two sets of “eyes” on the “head,” or mast, of the Perseverance rover, these cameras can take high-definition video, panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface. These are the first cameras sent to Mars with built-in zoom capability, able to switch from a wide angle to a close up view. Credit: MSSS/ASU
Howson noted that although Perseverance first sends lower-resolution thumbnails that offer a glimpse of the images to come, she was stunned by the full-resolution versions: “It feels like a birthday or holiday when they arrive. You know what’s coming, but there is still an element of surprise when you get to see the final product.”
Color also sets this version of a Phobos solar eclipse apart. Mastcam-Z has a solar filter that acts like sunglasses to reduce light intensity. “You can see details in the shape of Phobos’ shadow, like ridges and bumps on the moon’s landscape,” said Mark Lemmon, a planetary astronomer with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, who has orchestrated most of the Phobos observations by Mars rovers. “You can also see sunspots. And it’s cool that you can see this eclipse exactly as the rover saw it from Mars.”
As Phobos circles Mars, its gravity exerts small tidal forces on the Red Planet’s interior, slightly deforming rock in the planet’s crust and mantle. These forces also slowly change Phobos’ orbit. As a result, geophysicists can use those changes to better understand how pliable the interior of Mars is, revealing more about the materials within the crust and mantle.
Scientists already know that Phobos is doomed: The moon is getting closer to the Martian surface and is destined to crash into the planet in tens of millions of years. But eclipse observations from the surface of Mars over the last two decades have also allowed scientists to refine their understanding of Phobos’ slow death spiral.
Astrobiology, especially the search for traces of ancient microbial life, is a significant goal for Perseverance’s mission on Mars. The rover will analyze the planet’s geology and previous climate, pave the path for future human exploration of Mars, and be the first mission to gather and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
In following NASA missions, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), spacecraft would be sent to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth investigation.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which also includes Artemis Moon missions to help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
The Perseverance rover was created and is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California. The Mastcam-Z sensor is managed by Arizona State University in partnership with Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego.
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