Are those some type of calibration targets on the side of coring drill?
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
26 points (100.0% liked)
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover
2087 readers
1 users here now
On the plains of Jezero, the secrets of Mars' past await us! Follow for the latest news, updates, pretty pics, and community discussion on NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's most ambitious mission to Mars!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I only read the other replies after I posted my answer (some good stuff there :) It's great when everyone chips in, shows we have an active community :) Mine was a stock answer that I posted to Reddit several years ago (not long after Perseverance landed IIRC).
It's a huge pity the team on M2020 have not followed in the footsteps of MSL for posting regular blogs. I'd love to hear that the team had used the Fiducial Markers at some point in the mission. We may even see them in use soon on MSL if the drill checks show any sort of damage to the drill, as the original method of changing a drill bit probably wont work as well as designed / planned. We can see the bit boxes were designed to be used with the drill stabilizers for alignment. Those stabilizers will hardly come into play now (since the feed motor brake failed / locked), so they are going to have to align the arm very carefully to capture a new DBA. The fiducials could really help....