NASA finally let Perseverance stretch its arms and do some work

NASA fancy new Perseverance rover has been sitting on Mars since late February. It landed perfectly and everything has been going well in the months since then, but it's had a lot to do before it could begin conducting serious science. Top of the list was the deployment of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, and while the rover has been allowed to roam the area where Ingenuity was performing its flight tests, it couldn't stray too far because it had to be close enough to record video of the flights from the ground.

Now that Ingenuity has demonstrated much of what it can do and has flown to a new area where Perseverance will eventually head, the rover has a bit of time to put its high-tech instruments to good use. In a new blog post, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reveals that Perseverance recently used some of its tools, including a high-resolution camera and laser zapper, to begin studying the rocks that sit beneath its wheels.