Geocaching and NASA head to Mars with the Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020 is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. This specific mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life there. On the day/sol when the rover landed on Mars, Geocaching HQ launched this page about Perseverance and Geocaching's history with regards to space: 

geocaching.com/promos/perseverance

Perseverance has four main science goals:

• Determine whether life ever arose on Mars
• Characterize the climate of Mars
• Characterize the geology of Mars
• Prepare for human exploration

Timeline:

• July 30, 2020: launch with an Atlas V-541 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
• February 18, 2021 / Sol 0: arrival at Octavia E. Butler Landing in Jezero Crater, Mars
• March 17, 2021 / Sol 26: photograph taken on Mars and sent to Earth! By logging the trackable, you immediately earn a new souvenir for your profile to celebrate the first interplanetary trackable.

Thanks to the Mars 2020 SHERLOC instrument team at Johnson Space Center, the newest mission to Mars contains a tracking code, truly taking geocaching out of this world!

The trackable code is specially printed on a one-inch, unique, glass disk that is part of the rover’s calibration target. See the picture below. Cameras and other tools on the rover use calibration targets to determine accurate colors, brightness, focus, and other information. This calibration target is specifically for the SHERLOC’s WATSON camera. The SHERLOC instrument is a spectrometer on the rover’s arm that uses laser light to classify minerals and look for organic compounds. WATSON, its sidekick camera system, is used for engineering, operations and science imaging on the surface of Mars.

How can I log this trackable if I’m not also going to Mars?

If you’re not blasting off anytime soon, don’t worry. You’ll still be able to log the Mars Rover.

The tracking code is on the WATSON camera’s calibration target. After Perseverance lands on Mars and NASA does a few other tasks, that camera takes a picture of the tracking code itself and sends that picture back to Earth. You can log the Rover by finding the code in that picture. 

Look through NASA’s raw images. Can you find the image of our trackable item in that large gallery? Be sure to filter for pictures taken by SHERLOC and WATSON.

Please note that Geocaching HQ is giving explicit permission as the owner to log this trackable virtually.

I'm interested in learning more.

• Participate in the discussion on the Geocaching forums.
• Read about planetary geology and EarthCache sites with the Geological Society of America.
• Enjoy our interview with NASA’s Dr. Francis McCubbin.
• View NASA's information directly: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020