Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 August 28
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                             Mars Rock Rochette
                    Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech

   Explanation: Taken on mission sol 180 (August 22) this sharp image from
   a Hazard Camera on the Perseverance rover looks out across a rock
   strewn floor of Jezero crater on Mars. At 52.5 centimeters (21 inches)
   in diameter, one of the rover's steerable front wheels is at lower left
   in the frame. Near center is a large [5]rock nicknamed Rochette.
   Mission planners don't want to avoid Rochette though. [6]Instead
   Perseverance will be instructed to reach out with its 2 meter long
   robotic arm and [7]abrade the rock's surface, to determine whether it
   has a consistency suitable for obtaining a sample, slightly thicker
   than a pencil, using the rover's coring bit. Samples collected by
   Perseverance would be returned to Earth by a future Mars mission.

                  Tomorrow's picture: large rocks in space
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    Authors & editors: [19]Robert Nemiroff ([20]MTU) & [21]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([22]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [23]Specific rights apply.
              [24]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [25]ASD at [26]NASA / [27]GSFC
                           & [28]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2108/PIA24767.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
   5. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/26193/perseverance-team-selects-a-new-rock-to-abrade/
   6. https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9022/nasas-perseverance-plans-next-sample-attempt/
   7. https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/327/why-and-how-perseverance-abrades-rocks/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210827.html
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  12. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  17. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210828
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210829.html
  19. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  20. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  22. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  24. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  25. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  26. https://www.nasa.gov/
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  28. http://www.mtu.edu/