Department of Earth Sciences

Project Overview

Since the landing of NASA’s Perseverance Rover in Jezero Crater in 2020, the Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing group has contributed to the tasks of the Mastcam-Z team, working in close collaboration with Principal Investigator Prof. Dr. Jim Bell at Arizona State University. Our team provides crucial expertise in geological interpretation and data visualization to help unlock the secrets of Mars' ancient past.

What We Do

Mission Planning Support: We contribute to the daily operations of the rover by advising on imaging strategies and helping select the most scientifically valuable targets for Mastcam-Z's high-resolution, multispectral stereo cameras.

Advanced Data Processing: Our work involves creating detailed image mosaics and three-dimensional terrain models from the rover's observations, which help scientists understand the complex geological history of Jezero Crater—a site chosen for its potential to preserve evidence of ancient microbial life.

Interactive Visualization Tools: We've developed innovative tools to help the international science team analyze mission data:

• Digital Hiking Map: An interactive map of the Jezero landing site that allows researchers to explore the rover's journey and observations in spatial and temporal context.
• VR Environment: A collaborative virtual reality platform where team members can simultaneously examine and discuss high-resolution orbital imagery, rover panoramas, and topographic data in an immersive 3D space (on request)

Why It Matters

The Perseverance mission represents humanity's most ambitious effort yet to search for signs of ancient life on Mars and prepare for future human exploration. The rover is collecting rock samples that will eventually be returned to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis—a multi-mission endeavor spanning decades.

By combining orbital data with ground-level observations and developing new ways to visualize complex geological relationships, our team helps ensure that mission scientists can make the best possible decisions about where to explore and which samples to collect for return to Earth.

The Bigger Picture

This work directly supports NASA's four key Mars 2020 objectives: understanding Jezero's geology, searching for potentially habitable ancient environments, collecting samples with high biosignature preservation potential, and testing technologies for future human missions—including oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere.