Perseverance Rover

The Perseverance rover is currently exploring an ancient delta in the Jezero impact crater on Mars. Studying this delta, which starting forming ~4 billion years ago, will provide invaluable insight into the early Martian environment: history of fluvial processes, potential biosignatures, large impacts, and so much more. One of the most important goals of the mission is the coring of samples that will be returned to Earth in the early 2030s via the Mars Sample Return mission. From a paleomagnetic perspective, studying these returned samples will provide exquisite details about the Martian dynamo, which was once active but no longer exists today. Knowing when an internally-generated magnetic field was present is vital to understanding the evolution of the Martian interior (thermochemical history of the core and mantle) and the potential habitability of the planet (role of the dynamo in loss of the early atmosphere and surface water)

Orienting Cores

The samples that will be returned from the Perseverance rover will revolutionize our understanding of early Mars. One aspect of the cores that is important to constrain is their orientation relative to the Martian geographic frame. The cores' orientations will provide insights into the properties of the Martian dynamo, paleocurrent directions in the delta and/or paleolake, and the formation and biogenicity of rock textures. Using metadata provided by the rover during core drilling, we have created a pipeline that can orient Perseverance cores to within 2 degrees. A full explanation of the orientation methods and results can be found in Weiss & Mansbach et al 2024.

Future Paleomagnetism

The particular characteristics of the Martian dynamo and what those constraints can tell us about the evolution of Mars relies on the ability of the samples to record and retain magnetic field records over billions of years. Additionally, the information the samples can provide about the ancient field is based on the form of magnetizaitons the samples might carry. Here, I synthesize contextual and geochemisty data from Perseverance instruments to determine the ferromagnetic carriers in the future returned samples, the distribution of their grain sizes, and what forms of mangetizations the samples could carry. The article on this work can be found in Mansbach et al 2024.

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