What We Learned from the Perseverance Rover's First Year on Mars

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February 17, 2022

Dear Reader, This week, we're thinking about the past and future of wheels on other worlds. Our lead story recaps the ongoing odyssey of the Perseverance rover, which on February 18 will mark its one-year anniversary on Mars. From there, read our piece about how NASA and other space agencies are pursuing partnerships with carmakers to make—or retrofit from commercial vehicles—a new generation of electric-powered rovers for interplanetary exploration. We also have stories about the physics of Olympic figure skating, how the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted rocket launches, a newfound planet around a neighboring star and more.

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics @LeeBillings

Planetary Science What We Learned from the Perseverance Rover's First Year on Mars Despite some unexpected challenges, team members are setting lofty goals for the rover in 2022 By Nadia Drake

Space Exploration NASA Eyes Electric Car Tech for Future Moon Rovers Space agencies are partnering with car manufacturers to custom build new rovers—or retrofit commercial vehicles—for future missions to the moon and Mars By Maddie Bender

Physiology How Olympic Figure Skaters Break Records with Physics An exercise scientist explains the biomechanics behind jumps such as the quadruple Axel, and what the body's limits are By Tanya Lewis

Space Exploration Billionaire Space Tourism Has Become Insufferable From brave exploration to just another playground for the 0.0000001 percent By Clara Moskowitz

Particle Physics Why Some Fluids Flow Slower when Pushed Harder A transparent rock experiment shows how stretchy molecules kick up eddies By Rachel Berkowitz

Astronomy Possible Third Planet Spotted around Proxima Centauri, Our Sun's Nearest Neighbor Star Proxima d might be only a quarter the mass of Earth, potentially making it one of the smallest worlds yet discovered beyond our solar system By Mike Wall,SPACE.com

Space Exploration Moon's Hidden Depths Uncovered with New Algorithm The permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles might contain thick ice reservoirs By Connie Chang

Space Exploration COVID Disrupted Everything--Even Rocket Launches Surprising supply chain breakdowns By Tory Bruno

FROM THE STORE Black Holes: Going to Extremes Once dismissed as a mathematical curiosity, black holes are so strange they almost defy belief. Since their existence was confirmed, research into the nature of black holes has opened up new vistas in physics, and in this eBook, we examine some of the most fascinating discoveries about black hole formation and behavior, the new and evolving research in gravitational wave astronomy, theoretical possibilities such as wormholes and much more.

QUOTE OF THE DAY "We're converging on a point for planetary and commercial vehicles where we're utilizing the same kinds of techniques to operate these vehicles, get them to drive autonomously and avoid obstacles." Paul Niles, planetary scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center

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FROM THE ARCHIVE China's Moon Rover Takes a Deeper Look at the Far Side Radar data from the Chang'e-4 mission show multiple debris layers under the rover, recording eons of lunar history By Jonathan O'Callaghan | February 2020

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