Just minutes after NASA Rover perseverance stuck landing on Mars, sent back two historical images – our first views of the evasive red planet Crater Lake.
Percy, as the rover is nicknamed, went through “seven minutes of terror“Thursday – a series of make-or-break events for landing. A successful landing was announced just before 16:00 ET at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
“Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance is safe on the surface of Mars, ready to start looking for signs of past life!” Swati Mohan, a guidance, navigation and control officer who monitors telemetry at JPL, called her the rover landed. Socially distant flight engineers burst into applause and applause as they breathed a sigh of relief.
Just moments later, the scientists received the first two images of the rover, showing a rocky view of the rover’s new home.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
One of Rover’s hazard avoidance cameras, which primarily helps driving, took black-and-white photos. The camera is partially hidden by a transparent protective cover. Subsequent images from the rover will have higher resolution.
Percy himself can be seen in the first image – his big shadow announcing his arrival.
The photos mark one of the rover’s first successes and show the team on Earth that it has reached Mars safely.
“Hello, world. My first look at my eternal home,” the rover posted on Twitter on arrival.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
President Joe Biden watched the rover land live from the White House.
“Congratulations to NASA and to all of you whose hard work has made possible the historic landing of Perseverance,” he said. posted on Twitter. “Today it has been proven once again that, with the power of American science and ingenuity, nothing is beyond the realm of possibilities.”
The scientists said they hoped to watch “quite spectacular” video and audio images, as well as additional photos, in the coming days.
The rover, NASA’s most sophisticated to date, will soon begin its hunt for signs of ancient life. Billions of years ago, Jezero Crater was home to a large lake, and Percy will collect evidence that will be the first make your way back to Earth for scientists to examine.
In the first month, they also plan to test a small, £ 80 million helicopter called the Ingenuity. He will try his first motor flight in the thin Martian air, a “Wright brothers moment” in another world.