NASA/JPL-Caltech
Touchdown! The planet Mars has a new robot resident.
At 3:55 pm Eastern time Thursday, NASA’s Perseverance rover landed safely on the Red Planet, after its seven-month journey through space. Upon arrival, it snapped this image of its landing spot. You can see the shadow of the craft imposed on the Martian dust.
NASA
The safe landing came after what was called the “seven minutes of terror” landing sequence. Because it takes several minutes for any communication from Mars to reach Earth, NASA’s team could not pilot the rover’s landing. So Perseverance had to land itself, without any guidance from humans.
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NASA s Mars Exploration Programme includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter drone. Launched on 30 July 2020, it s scheduled to touch down on Mars .
Museum of Flight Space Mavens Offer Insights from Earth to Mars
Museum of Flight Space Mavens Offer Insights from Earth to Mars
An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. Photo NASA.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover lands on the Red Planet Feb. 18, and the Museum of Flight is hosting two live, online panel programs to prep and cover the landing with NASA JPL Mars mission engineers. The preview discussion on Feb. 11 includes Mallory Lefland, JPL Flight Controller, who will be on duty with NASA Mission Control for the rover landing; and on landing day, Feb. 18, the program includes Bill Cahill, the program manager for the MR-80 rocket engines that will power the descent stage bringing Perseverance to the surface of Mars. Both programs are free and online.
Upcoming Mars rover landing marks latest step in researching the red planet
Note to journalists: Photos and video of Briony Horgan as well as Mars images are available on Google Drive. Journalists visiting campus should follow visitor health guidelines.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. The Mars Perseverance Rover will fly 300 million miles over almost seven months, but the seven minutes spent waiting to receive a radio signal confirming the rover has landed will seem like an eternity for scientists and researchers back on Earth.
That wait is dubbed the “seven minutes of terror” and Briony Horgan, Purdue University associate professor of planetary science, calls it the scariest moment of the mission.