Let’s celebrate the successful landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars.
After a few nail-biting moments (for many), the hard work and ingenuity of scientists at NASA paid off with a successful landing of the Mars rover Perseverance (nicknamed Percy) in the Jezero crater on Mars. The landing sequence went like clockwork, the new guidance and control technique called "Terrain Relative Navigation" (TRN) took real-time images of the terrain below and guided the rover delivery vehicle to a nice flat area in the landing zone.
This was no ordinary feat — this was the heaviest and most advanced rover to land on Mars. Out of total of 20 21 Mars landing missions, only 8 9 have succeeded, all by NASA. NASA had one failure; all 11 missions by the Russians and Europeans have resulted in failure.
In case you missed all the excitement, you can watch it in the video below. Or just relive the historic event.
The Bulls-eye!
Perseverance wasted little time before sending the first images after the landing -
Note that these images were taken at low-resolution, with the protective cover partially blocking the view. We hope to see some better quality images and sound clips later today and over the weekend.
During landing, data was sent by the landing equipment relayed via the NASA MRO orbiter; direct communications using the X-band antenna was not be possible since Perseverance was not directly visible from earth. Other orbiters such as NASA’s MAVEN, Odyssey, and ESA’s TGO relayed data over the next few hours as they came into view of Perseverance.
New Images
Here are a few images that arrived today.
This image was taken by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Perseverance parachuted towards the landing area. The circle below the square is where Percy landed.
An unbelievable image of Perseverance hanging by its cords, captured by a video camera at the bottom of the descent stage, moments before touchdown -
First color image of the view from Perseverance -
Mars rocks!
Around 6:30 p.m. ET, the Mars Helicopter called in with a health report. All systems are functioning normally. It will be another 30 to 60 days before it ventures out of the belly of Perseverance to fly as no other aircraft has flown before.
Pride and Perseverance
It was nice to see the heart-felt greetings from the new White House, one that understands and supports science and space exploration.
Yes, credit for Perseverance goes to the Obama/Biden administration. The Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA on 4 December 2012 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco and details were fleshed out between 2013 and 2015.
Rep. Adam Schiff showing great pride in his state. How good it feels to say “Mr. President” with a smile on your face?
VP Kamala Harris bridging the connection between the past and the future.
The First Lady understands Perseverance.
Cities joined in the celebrations -
We can only vicariously feel the joy and pride that reverberated in mission control at JPL.
A few more tributes -
Dr. Brian May never hides his excitement. He should write a new song.
Dr. Mae Jemison, 1st woman of color in space — “It’s not magic”.
French pride for their contribution to the mission -
Our good neighbors up North played a role as well -
A tribute to women and the diverse team at NASA that made the Mars 2020 mission possible.
What next?
From mars.nasa.gov/… - Several pyrotechnic charges are expected to fire later on Friday, releasing Perseverance’s mast (the “head” of the rover) from where it is fixed on the rover’s deck. The Navigation Cameras (Navcams), which are used for driving, share space on the mast with two science cameras: the zoomable Mastcam-Z and a laser instrument called SuperCam. The mast is scheduled to be raised Saturday, Feb. 20, after which the Navcams are expected to take panoramas of the rover’s deck and its surroundings.
In the days to come, engineers will pore over the rover’s system data, updating its software and beginning to test its various instruments. In the following weeks, Perseverance will test its robotic arm and take its first, short drive. It will be at least one or two months until Perseverance will find a flat location to drop off Ingenuity, the mini-helicopter attached to the rover’s belly, and even longer before it finally hits the road.
On its journey in the next two years, Perseverance will explore the river delta area in Jezero crater, then climb the crater wall to its west, analyze rock and regolith samples for signs of ancient microbial life, cache a few samples for pickup by a future mission, and test an oxygen generator prototype.
Perseverance will communicate with earth at high data rates with Mars orbiters from NASA and ESA acting as relays. The connection will not be continuous, as different orbiters come into view and establish connections with antennas in NASA’s DSN ground network. You can see the real-time status of the antennae in the DSN network here.
Epilogue
The Mars 2020 mission shows that with hard work, ingenuity, perseverance and community, anything is possible. The “seven minutes of terror” were anything but. The folks in mission control were cool as cucumbers, diligently monitoring the incoming data, analyzing and displaying it in real-time, communicating the info to each other and to us, who were watching the historic event on our computer screens.
The next few years will expand our knowledge of the Solar system and about the origins of life. The search for life is of profound importance for humankind. Did life arise on earth and earth alone? If so, why did it not arise in places like Mars and other planets? What is the probability of it arising in the trillion of planets out there? What does it take for life to arise and take root?
The “colonization” of mars is still a dream, but a dream worth pursuing. It will take decades to develop the technology to transport humans safely to Mars and the technology needed to survive and thrive on Mars. But as they say, you will never reach your destination if you don’t start.
To dig deeper into the details of the mission, check out the first reference below, which has lots of info and links to many other sources.
Further Reading
- The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover and the Search for Life — www.dailykos.com/…
- Mars 2020 Mission website — mars.nasa.gov/…
- Why Go To Mars? And other Planets and Moons. — www.dailykos.com/…
- Turn Mars Blue? — www.dailykos.com/…
- Is There Life on Mars? - www.dailykos.com/…