Mastcam-Z multispectral database from the Perseverance rover’s traverse in the Jezero crater floor, Mars (sols 0-380)

NASA’s Mars-2020 Perseverance rover spent its first year in Jezero crater studying the mafic lava flows of the Máaz formation and the ultramafic cumulates of the Séítah formation. Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument, a pair of multispectral, stereoscopic zoom-lens cameras, provides broadband red/green/blue (RGB), narrowband visible to near-infrared color (VNIR, 440-1020 nm wavelength range). We compiled Mastcam-Z spectra from Perseverance’s exploration of the Jezero crater floor in the first 380 sols of its mission. Here, we provide a database of ~2400 representative spectra with extensive metadata, and the locations of the regions of interest (ROIs) from which the spectra were extracted. We also include “natural color” red, green, blue (RGB) images for context, “enhanced color images” derived by stretching narrowband images, and “decorrelation stretch” (DCS) images. This dataset can serve as a baseline to interpret future observations from Perseverance’s ongoing exploration of Jezero crater, Mars

Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assays

The formation of new blood vessels, or angiogenesis, is a complex process that plays important roles in growth and development, tissue and organ regeneration, as well as numerous pathological conditions. Angiogenesis undergoes multiple discrete steps that can be individually evaluated and quantified by a large number of bioassays. These independent assessments hold advantages but also have limitations. This article describes in vivo, ex vivo, and in vitro bioassays that are available for the evaluation of angiogenesis and highlights critical aspects that are relevant for their execution and proper interpretation. As such, this collaborative work is the first edition of consensus guidelines on angiogenesis bioassays to serve for current and future reference

Neptune Odyssey: A Flagship Concept for the Exploration of the Neptune–Triton System

The Neptune Odyssey mission concept is a Flagship-class orbiter and atmospheric probe to the Neptune-Triton system. This bold mission of exploration would orbit an ice-giant planet to study the planet, its rings, small satellites, space environment, and the planet-sized moon Triton. Triton is a captured dwarf planet from the Kuiper Belt, twin of Pluto, and likely ocean world. Odyssey addresses Neptune system-level science, with equal priorities placed on Neptune, its rings, moons, space environment, and Triton. Between Uranus and Neptune, the latter is unique in providing simultaneous access to both an ice giant and a Kuiper Belt dwarf planet. The spacecraft - in a class equivalent to the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft - would launch by 2031 on a Space Launch System or equivalent launch vehicle and utilize a Jupiter gravity assist for a 12 yr cruise to Neptune and a 4 yr prime orbital mission; alternatively a launch after 2031 would have a 16 yr direct-to-Neptune cruise phase. Our solution provides annual launch opportunities and allows for an easy upgrade to the shorter (12 yr) cruise. Odyssey would orbit Neptune retrograde (prograde with respect to Triton), using the moon's gravity to shape the orbital tour and allow coverage of Triton, Neptune, and the space environment. The atmospheric entry probe would descend in ~37 minutes to the 10 bar pressure level in Neptune's atmosphere just before Odyssey's orbit-insertion engine burn. Odyssey's mission would end by conducting a Cassini-like "Grand Finale,"passing inside the rings and ultimately taking a final great plunge into Neptune's atmosphere

Erratum: "Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) Observations of Titan 2004-2017" (2019, ApJS, 244, 14)

International audienc

OVERVIEW OF THE MARS 2020 MISSION PERSEVERANCE ROVER THIRD SCIENCE CAMPAIGN: EXPLORING JEZERO CRATER’S UPPER FAN

International audienceThe objective of the Mars 2020 mission is to characterize the geologic history and astrobiological potential of Jezero crater, as well as to collect and document a suite of samples for potential future return to Earth [1]. Jezero crater was selected as the landing site for the Perseverance rover in part due to the presence of the exceptionally well-preserved “western fan” (Fig. 1). This fan was interpreted from orbiter images to be a river delta, formed in the late Noachian to early Hesperian in a lake that was once present inside the crater [2-5]. The Upper Fan Campaign is the third campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. It began in February 2023 (sol 708) with the rover’s arrival at the top of the fan front and ended in September 2023 (~sol 910) when the rover crossed into the Margin unit lining the inner crater rim (Fig. 1)

OVERVIEW OF THE MARS 2020 MISSION PERSEVERANCE ROVER THIRD SCIENCE CAMPAIGN: EXPLORING JEZERO CRATER’S UPPER FAN

International audienceThe objective of the Mars 2020 mission is to characterize the geologic history and astrobiological potential of Jezero crater, as well as to collect and document a suite of samples for potential future return to Earth [1]. Jezero crater was selected as the landing site for the Perseverance rover in part due to the presence of the exceptionally well-preserved “western fan” (Fig. 1). This fan was interpreted from orbiter images to be a river delta, formed in the late Noachian to early Hesperian in a lake that was once present inside the crater [2-5]. The Upper Fan Campaign is the third campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. It began in February 2023 (sol 708) with the rover’s arrival at the top of the fan front and ended in September 2023 (~sol 910) when the rover crossed into the Margin unit lining the inner crater rim (Fig. 1)

OVERVIEW OF THE MARS 2020 MISSION PERSEVERANCE ROVER THIRD SCIENCE CAMPAIGN: EXPLORING JEZERO CRATER’S UPPER FAN

International audienceThe objective of the Mars 2020 mission is to characterize the geologic history and astrobiological potential of Jezero crater, as well as to collect and document a suite of samples for potential future return to Earth [1]. Jezero crater was selected as the landing site for the Perseverance rover in part due to the presence of the exceptionally well-preserved “western fan” (Fig. 1). This fan was interpreted from orbiter images to be a river delta, formed in the late Noachian to early Hesperian in a lake that was once present inside the crater [2-5]. The Upper Fan Campaign is the third campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. It began in February 2023 (sol 708) with the rover’s arrival at the top of the fan front and ended in September 2023 (~sol 910) when the rover crossed into the Margin unit lining the inner crater rim (Fig. 1)

OVERVIEW OF THE MARS 2020 MISSION PERSEVERANCE ROVER THIRD SCIENCE CAMPAIGN: EXPLORING JEZERO CRATER’S UPPER FAN

International audienceThe objective of the Mars 2020 mission is to characterize the geologic history and astrobiological potential of Jezero crater, as well as to collect and document a suite of samples for potential future return to Earth [1]. Jezero crater was selected as the landing site for the Perseverance rover in part due to the presence of the exceptionally well-preserved “western fan” (Fig. 1). This fan was interpreted from orbiter images to be a river delta, formed in the late Noachian to early Hesperian in a lake that was once present inside the crater [2-5]. The Upper Fan Campaign is the third campaign of the Mars 2020 mission. It began in February 2023 (sol 708) with the rover’s arrival at the top of the fan front and ended in September 2023 (~sol 910) when the rover crossed into the Margin unit lining the inner crater rim (Fig. 1)

PAST VARIATIONS OF WATER LEVEL OF JEZERO PALEOLAKE

International audienceThe western fan of Jezero crater displays features interpreted as fluvial and deltaic sedimentary rocks from orbital data [1,2]. Images obtained using the SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) and the Mastcam-Z camera provide in-situ observations of Jezero crater’s western fan in various locations along the Perseverance traverse. In the last two years, the rover analyzed the fan front from a distance using these imaging tools and at close range using its entire payload. Then, in 2023, the Perseverance rover explored the top of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. Here we show that fluvial topsets and deltaic foresets dominate sedimentary rocks. Determining the boundary between fluvial and prodelta deposits enables us to draw the evolution of the lake level through time

PAST VARIATIONS OF WATER LEVEL OF JEZERO PALEOLAKE

International audienceThe western fan of Jezero crater displays features interpreted as fluvial and deltaic sedimentary rocks from orbital data [1,2]. Images obtained using the SuperCam Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) and the Mastcam-Z camera provide in-situ observations of Jezero crater’s western fan in various locations along the Perseverance traverse. In the last two years, the rover analyzed the fan front from a distance using these imaging tools and at close range using its entire payload. Then, in 2023, the Perseverance rover explored the top of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. Here we show that fluvial topsets and deltaic foresets dominate sedimentary rocks. Determining the boundary between fluvial and prodelta deposits enables us to draw the evolution of the lake level through time