NASA s first Mars sample collection mission prepares to land
By IANS |
Published on
Mon, Feb 15 2021 19:57 IST |
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NASA s first Mars sample collection mission prepares to land (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech). Image Source: IANS News
Washington, Feb 15 : After a nearly seven-month journey to Mars, NASA s Perseverance rover, its first mission to collect Martian broken rock and dust, is slated to land at a tricky terrain of the Red Planet on February 18.
The rover will characterise the planet s geology and past climate and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
The Perseverance rover, NASA s most sophisticated rover yet, will try to land at the Red Planet s Jezero Crater.
Why NASA calls landing the Mars rover 7 minutes of terror 01:26 (CNN)In 22 days, NASA s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will land on Mars in Jezero Crater to search for signs of ancient life that may have been on the red planet in the past.
The rover, which is the largest and most advanced rover NASA has ever built, will act as a robotic geologist, collecting samples of dirt and rocks that will eventually be returned to Earth by the 2030s.
For that reason, Perseverance is also the cleanest machine ever sent to Mars, designed so it doesn t contaminate the Martian samples with any microbes from Earth, providing a false reading.
February 19, 2021 at 8:23 am
NASA’s Perseverance rover has safely landed on the surface of Mars. The rover touched down in Jezero Crater on the Red Planet at 20:55 UTC on 18 February 2021.
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The successful landing was the culmination of a 203-day journey from Earth that saw it travel a total of 472 million km. The Perseverance Mars rover team look on in Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as the mission’s first images of the Red Planet arrive. Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
In a familiar sight for anyone who closely follows NASA’s robotic space probe missions, planetary scientists and engineers erupted into applause once the successful landing had been confirmed.