The sunsets on Mars are often blue. But not this one.
The Perseverance rover captured its first view of a sunset this week. The sun sets behind the hills in Jezero Crater, a place planetary scientists believe was once flooded with water.
The space agency explained the sunset's colors. There was no dust in the atmosphere when the rover snapped a picture. If there is more dust in the atmosphere, the blue light wavelength makes its way through the dust. Dust in the atmosphere allows blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than colors with longer wavelength. Less dust in the atmosphere resulted in a more muted color.
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The rover hadn't yet peered at the sunset because it had been busy. Perseverance's primary goal is to find signs of past, ancient life. This means looking for rocks that may have once been home to life-supporting organisms.
Perseverance is collecting rocks for a future mission to collect and ferry back to Earth. The rover has been directed by NASA to store three rock samples. One day, these extraterrestrial rocks may give planetary scientists a good idea of whether any life once existed on Mars.
