--- title: "NASA’s Mars Rover “Percy” Stretches Its Arm for the First Time" description: "NASA's Mars rover Perseverance has spent the last week getting ready for work and stretching its seven foot robotic arm." date: "2021-03-04" modified: "2021-03-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasas-mars-rover-percy-stretches-its-arm-for-the-first-time" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "mars rover" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA’s Mars Rover “Percy” Stretches Its Arm for the First Time ![NASA's Mars rover Perseverance has spent the last week getting ready for work and stretching its seven foot robotic arm.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Wake Up It's been 14 days since NASA's Mars rover Perseverance [landed]() on the Martian surface. Over that period, the lonely rover has been able to stretch and get ready for show time. "This week I’ve been doing lots of health checkouts, getting ready to get to work," NASA [tweeted]() from the rover's official Twitter account on Wednesday. "I’ve checked many tasks off my list, including instrument tests, imaging, and getting my arm moving." "Warming up for a marathon of science," the six-wheeled rover tweeted. https://twitter.com/NASAPersevere/status/1367252107561111555 ## Sisters of Percy Perseverance, lovingly nicknamed "Percy" by the media, is decked out with a host of sophisticated scientific instruments to look for signs of ancient life in the surrounding Jezero Crater, a region suspected to be an ancient, dried up river delta. Some of those instruments are attached to a [seven-foot robotic arm](). The arm has five degrees of freedom thanks to specially designed actuators. At the end of its arm is the "turret," which carries "scientific cameras, mineral and chemical analyzers for studying the past habitability of Mars," according to [NASA's website](). The arm also holds a drill designed to extract core samples. Some of these samples will be packaged up to be returned to Earth during a later mission to Mars. It's exciting to see Perseverance jump into action. It won't be long until the rover will be able to send back its first set of invaluable scientific data. Stay tuned: NASA will be holding a press conference tomorrow at 3:30 pm EST for an update. **READ MORE:** [Perseverance rover flexes its arm on Mars for the 1st time]() \[*Space.com*\] **More on Perseverance:** *[All the Easter Eggs NASA Engineers Left on the Mars Rover]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()