Jezero crater is the landing site for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The Noachian‐aged crater has undergone several periods of fluvial and lacustrine activity and phyllosilicate‐ and carbonate‐bearing rocks were formed and emplaced as a result. It also contains a portion of the regional Nili Fossae olivine‐carbonate unit. In this work, we performed spectral mixture analysis of visible/near‐infrared hyperspectral imagery over Jezero. We modeled carbonate abundances up to ∼35% and identified three distinct units containing different carbonate phases. Our work also shows that the olivine in Jezero is predominantly restricted to aeolian deposits overlying the carbonate rocks. The diversity of carbonate phases in Jezero points to multiple periods of carbonate formation under varying conditions.

Curiosity landed on plains to the north of Mount Sharp in August 2012. By June 2016 the rover had traversed 12.9 km to the southwest, encountering extensive strata that were deposited in a fluvial-deltaic-lacustrine system. Initial drives across sharp sandstone outcrops initiated an unacceptably high rate of punctures and cracks in the thin aluminum wheel skin structures. Initial damage was found to be related to the drive control mode of the six wheel drive actuators and the kinematics of the rocker-bogie suspension. Wheels leading a suspension pivot were forced onto sharp, immobile surfaces by the other wheels as they maintained their commanded angular velocities. Wheel damage mechanisms such as geometry-induced stress concentration cracking and low-cycle fatigue were then exacerbated. A geomorphic map was generated to assist in planning traverses that would minimize further wheel damage. A steady increase in punctures and cracks between landing and June 2016 was due in part because of drives across the sharp sandstone outcrops that could not be avoided. Wheel lifetime estimates show that with careful path planning the wheels will be operational for an additional ten kilometers or more, allowing the rover to reach key strata exposed on the slopes of Mount Sharp.

No abstract