NASA Six-Wheeled Rover Ends 2021 on Mars With Incredible Achievements

As 2021 is coming to an end, NASA's Perseverance rover is looking back on its achievements ever since it first touched the cold, reddish alien ground. The car-sized machine, accompanied by the Ingenuity chopper, has been busy exploring the ancient layers of exposed bedrock from the Jezero Crater.

It traveled 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers) in total. During its journey, it sent back to Earth stunning images – about 100,000 of them. It even recorded sounds of the Red Planet and of the helicopter flying through the thin atmosphere, making us feel as if we were right next to it.

Perseverance also managed to successfully snatch some "chunks" out of Mars. In September, the rover started drilling using the percussive drill at the end of its 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm and a hollow coring bit.

The result? Well, Perseverance managed to take crucial samples from an alien world. To date, the rover has stored inside its belly six samples, which could be returned to Earth by future spacecraft.

Perseverance has accomplished a lot this year. NASA has released a new video that showcases the machine's achievements on Mars. 2021 was filled with groundbreaking discoveries, and the rover doesn't plan to stop here.

In 2022, it will continue to spin its wheels across the rugged surface of the Red Planet, studying its geology and past climate and paving the way for future human exploration. The next step for Perseverance will be to investigate the delta from the Jezero Crater, which is believed to have formed billions of years ago from sediment that was carried into the crater by an ancient river.