This time-lapse video, which has been sped up by 24 occasions, makes use of an engineering mannequin of one of many devices aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover to indicate how the instrument evaluates secure placement towards a rock. If it’s decided to be secure, the rover locations the instrument, referred to as the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), near the focused rock for science observations. This check occurred at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on June 8, 2023. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
