Perseverance assembles 360-degree view of Martian ‘Turquoise Bay’

NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured a 360-degree panorama of “Turquoise Bay”, a geologic area of interest in Mars’ Margin Unit.

The panorama was assembled from 818 images taken by the rover’s Mastcam-Z camera between 5 and 16 October 2023, corresponding to the mission’s 933rd to 944th Martian days, or sols.

NASA also produced an enhanced-colour version of the image. The processing was designed to improve visual contrast and accentuate differences between colour bands; it is not a direct representation of natural Martian colours.

Perseverance operates in Jezero Crater as part of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the rover.

Arizona State University leads Mastcam-Z operations, working with Malin Space Science Systems on the cameras and with the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen on calibration targets.

The panorama release identifies “Turquoise Bay” as a geologic area of interest but does not report new findings about past life or water on Mars.