Mars Perseverance Rover Climbs Out of Jezero Crater and Onto New Horizons

Perseverance looks back at its ascent up to the rim of the Jezero Crater.

If you have been following the progress of NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover, you will know that so far, it has exclusively been in the Jezero Crater, which is about 28 miles wide and was formed 3.9 billion years ago.

It landed in Jezero in February 2021 and since then has been exploring the crater, conducting science experiments, and beaming back remarkable photos.

Perseverance landing in Jezero as seen from the sky crane deploying it.

But as of today, Perseverance is no longer inside Jezero. For the past three and a half months, the rover has been climbing out of the crater’s rim toward what NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is calling “Lookout Hill.”

During those 100 days or so, Perseverance ascended 1,640 vertical feet (500 vertical meters), climbing 20 percent grades while making stops to conduct science operations.

The view from the other side. This is what greeted Perseverance after it had gotten to the summit of Lookout Hill.

Jezero is on the edge of the Isidis basin.

“During the Jezero Crater rim climb, our rover drivers have done an amazing job negotiating some of the toughest terrain we’ve encountered since landing,” says Steven Lee, deputy project manager for Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“They developed innovative approaches to overcome these challenges — even tried driving backward to see if it would help — and the rover has come through it all like a champ. Perseverance is ‘go’ for everything the science team wants to throw at it during this next science campaign.”

The first color photo Perserverance beamed back from inside Jezero.

The location of Lookout Hill, the point that Perseverance exited Jezero after a monthslong climb.

What’s Next for Perseverance?

Now that it has reached Lookout Hill and climbed out of the crater, the rover can look out onto terrain it has never seen before. 2025 will see it travel approximately four miles, collecting samples and exploring sites of interest.

“Percy”, as Perseverance is nicknamed, will head to a location called “Witch Hazel Hill” next, a rocky outcrop where “each layer is like a page in the book of Martian history.”

Mars Perseverance selfie along with the now defunct Ingenuity Drone.

“As we drive down the hill, we will be going back in time, investigating the ancient environments of Mars recorded in the crater rim,” says Candice Bedford, a Perseverance scientist from Purdue University.

“Then, after a steep descent, we take our first turns of the wheel away from the crater rim toward ‘Lac de Charmes,’ about two miles south.”

Image credits: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.