Continuing to explore alone on desolate Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover parted ways with a lumpy rock that had been his companion for over a year.
Last spring, a photograph of one of Perseverance’s wheels showed a small stone accompanying the rover as it drove. But a recent photo shows a lone aluminum wheel with no stowaway stuck in the wheel for months. The news was confirmed on Twitter by Gwénaël Caravaca, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, who bid farewell to the “pet stone” of Perseverance.
https://twitter.com/GCC_Mars/status/1648943010619555841
As fans follow the adventures of the traveler and his little friend, a significant following has formed around this stone. These fans showed their reaction and sadness to the announcement by likening the stone to Wilson, the famous red-faced volleyball ball, who was Tom Hanks’ companion before he was lost at sea in the movie Cast Away.
Perseverance’s pet rock was discovered in an image taken on February 25, 2022, and continued to appear in photos the rover took of itself thereafter. Perseverance’s pet rock traveled nearly 10 kilometers across Martian terrain, spending a total of 427 Martian days inside the wheel.
NASA had decided that the rock posed no risk to Perseverance and would eventually fall off on its own. Although it took more than a year for the stone to fall, this prediction eventually came true.
Fortunately, the Ingenuity helicopter has yet to leave Perseverance alone on Mars. Although initially planned to make only five short flights, this tiny helicopter will soon make its 50th flight to the Martian surface, far beyond what was expected. The rover shared a new close-up image of Ingenuity this month.
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