Despite the damage, it continues to work.
Strong gusts of wind on Mars lifted a small a pebble that damaged the Perseverance rover's wind sensor. Despite this, the rover's instruments still continue to work, albeit with less sensitivity, reports Space.com with reference to one of the mission specialists Jose Antonio Rodríguez Manfredi.
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Among other things, the Perseverance rover is equipped with a weather station named Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA). It includes two wind sensors that measure wind speed and direction, as well as several other sensors that record humidity, radiation levels, and air temperature.
Recently, a pebble picked up by a strong gust of wind damaged one of the sensors.
“Currently, the capabilities of the sensor are limited, but it still provides measurements of wind speed and direction. The entire team is now reconfiguring the search procedure to get a more accurate indication of the intact detector,” said Rodríguez Manfredi.
In NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory materials, two ruler-sized wind sensors are surrounded by six separate detectors, the goal which – to give accurate data from any direction.
Each of the two wind sensors is located on a boom that can move them away from the rover as it moves. That's because Perseverance's movement can affect wind readings.
The scientists note that the wind sensors were designed with potential complications in mind, but there is a limit to any protection. When stronger-than-expected winds picked up a larger-than-expected pebble and threw it into the sensor, it caused damage.
“Neither predictions nor our experience from previous missions predicted that such strong winds, nor such a large amount of such loose material,” Rodriguez Manfredi said. He also added that wind damage to the sensor is ironic because that's “exactly what it should be looking for”. >, which should accelerate the development of science on Mars. Without direct guidance from Earth, the rover “shot” two targets with its SuperCam instrument.
