VIDEO: Nasa's Perseverance rover probes ancient river on Mars

Nasa's Perseverance rover captured a 360-degree image of Mars, which includes 2.38 billion pixels from Jezero Crater and provides information about the ancient river delta history of the planet.

Nasa's Perseverance rover is examining rocks that depict multiple eras in the history of a river delta that is billions of years old, following 1,000 days of exploration on Mars. 

The Jezero Crater on Mars is being studied by scientists to discover if any signs of prehistoric life may be found in the rocks. A guided tour of a highly detailed panorama of the rover's location in November 2023, captured by the Mastcam-Z instrument, is given by Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley.

This 360-degree mosaic, which spans 993 separate photos and 2.38 billion pixels, looks in every direction from what the rover science team refers to as "Airey Hill." 

A portion of the rover itself is visible in the scene; as a result of the image processing, it seems more deformed towards the edges.

An application of colour enhancement highlights colour variations and boosts contrast in the image. Mission scientists can use their everyday expertise to interpret the landscape because the modification approximates what the environment would seem like under lighting circumstances similar to earth.