Watch as NASA s space rover touches down on Mars
It may be last but by no means least NASA s Mars 2020 is the third mission to have successfully arrived at the Red Planet in the space of 10 days. It s the USA s largest Mars rover and it s carrying the first-ever Mars helicopter.
The show, as NASA put it, started late morning Pacific Time (early evening in Central Europe). But it was another two hours before the USA s latest rover, Perseverance, touched down on the surface of Mars at 20:56 UTC.
To land on Mars, the rover started its descent at a speed of over 20,000 kilometers per hour (12,000 miles per hour). A parachute and a powered descent mechanism then slowed the rover to about 3 km/h before a large sky crane lowered it on three bridle cords down to the surface of the planet, touching down on its six wheels.
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After seven months, the Hope craft launched by the United Arab Emirates has successfully entered the orbit of Mars. Next up are China's Tianwen-1 and the US's Mars 2020. Here's what happens next.