NASA receives first weather reports from Perseverance rover on Mars at Jezero Crater - Washington Post

Earlier this week, the NASA Perseverance rover reported on the weather from Mars’s Jezero Crater for the first time, providing an invaluable data set that will augment scientific understanding of the Martian atmosphere and inform future decisions about the rover’s mission.

The weather data will also help mission scientists decide when to launch Ingenuity, a drone-like helicopter, that’s set to take flight as early as Sunday.

NASA’s Perseverance rover may unlock mysteries behind weather on Mars.

Among them is weather data, which scientists say will better shape what we know about radiative processes and the cycle of water in Mars’s atmosphere.

Since Perseverance can tell from which way the winds are blowing, scientists are hoping to use its observations in tandem with those of Curiosity and satellite measurements to learn about Mars’s general atmospheric circulation.

NASA rover Perseverance lands on Mars in mission to search for past life.

NASA scientists will spend a few days gathering data and reviewing the flight’s performance before undertaking more complex endeavors in the future.

In the meantime, scientists will continue to await more detailed weather information from Perseverance and scope out an ideal airstrip for the helicopter.