The US space agency NASA has released the first video, images and sound captured by its explorer on Mars Perseverance.
The video shows the explorer or rover at various points during its landing on the Red Planet last week.
Some members of the Perseverance team said that the video and images are even better than they expected. “Gives me goosebumps Every time I see him, it’s amazing, “said Dave Gruel. He’s the head of the spacecraft’s landing chamber team.
Al Chen leads the Perseverance landing team. He called the images and video “the things of our dreams.”
Six color cameras were positioned to capture all stages of the landing. NASA said the cameras started when the rover was about 11 kilometers above the surface of Mars.
The flight controllers were also pleased with the thousands of images that Perseverance sent back to Earth. They said the rover was in very good condition after landing.
Perseverance landed in an area of Mars called Jezero Crater, just north of the planet’s equator. The area contains a large old lake. The main six-wheeled explorer mission is to collect Martian soil and rocks to help scientists look for signs of ancient life.
NASA has added 25 cameras to the Perseverance mission – the most ever sent to Mars. The latest rover of the space agency, Curiosity 2012, is able to produce only lower quality images of the planet’s surface.
NASA said it also received sound from Perseverance. A microphone attached to the rover could not collect usable data during the actual landing. But he recorded sounds from Jerezo Crater after he touched.
NASA said that about 10 seconds into a 60-second record, the Martian wind can be heard for a few seconds. The sounds of the equipment were also captured as the rover operated on the surface.
The video and images gave NASA the opportunity to see the effectiveness of spacecraft systems – some of which could not be tested on Earth. “So this is the first time we have engineers, as engineers, to actually see what we’ve designed,” said Matt Wallace, a NASA 2020 Mars project officer.
Thomas Zurbuchen is the head of NASA’s scientific mission. He said the video and panoramic the photos that Perseverance captured “are the closest to landing on Mars without wearing a pressure suit.”
NASA engineers say the images will help the agency prepare for astronauts’ flights to Mars in the future. But imaging scientist Justin Maki noted that images and videos can provide help immediately.
“I know it was a hard year for everyone, “Maki said.” And we hope that maybe these images will help brighten people’s days. “
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Bryan Lynn wrote this story based on reports from NASA, The Associated Press and Reuters. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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Words in this story
goosebumps – v. a roughness on the skin produced by a sudden sensation of cold, fear or emotion
mission – n. the flight of a spacecraft to perform a task or a task
panoramic – adj. a very broad view of something
hard – adj. difficult