Life for Perseverance,
the brave rover currently roaming the Red Planet some 132 million miles from Earth, is quite lonely.
Despite being a robot on a scientific
research mission, researchers from NASA’s Perseverance mission team were recently surprised to discover that Perseverance had accidentally adopted a pet stone.
It’s unclear whether Perseverance
chose the Rock or the Perseverance Rock, but scientists say the Rock found a snug home on the rover’s left front wheel, to which it began clinging.
According to a NASA press
release about the rock, the rock has been there since early February and has traveled more than 5.3 miles around Mars
Fortunately, the rock did not
harm Perseverance, although it certainly did justice to its owner, as it continues to cling to the rover for so many km.
This isn’t the first time
Almost 18 years ago, a potato-sized rock got caught on the right wheel of the rover Spirit