This is the first image of NASA’s Perseverance rover sent back after touching Mars on February 18, 2021.
New Delhi:
NASA released a new photo of the Perseverance rover mission to Mars on Monday. This was the first image obtained from the mission after reaching Mars on February 18, 2021 at local average solar time from 15:53:58. It was selected by public vote and was presented as the “Image of the Week” for Week 1 (February 14 – February 20, 2021) of the Mars mission.
The NASA Perseverance rover on Mars acquired this image of the area in front of it using its left frontal hazard avoidance camera.
On Friday, NASA released stunning new photos from Perseverance, including one of the rover being lightly lowered to the surface of Mars by a set of cables, the first time such a view was captured.
The high-resolution resolution was taken from a video made by the landing stage of the spacecraft carrying the rover from Earth.
The image of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captures Perseverance as it parachutes through the atmosphere.
At that time, the descent stage was using its six-engine jetpack to slow down to about 2.7 kilometers per hour as part of the “skycran maneuver”, the final phase of landing.
The three straight lines are mechanical brakes that keep the rover under the descent stage, while the curly cable was used to transmit data from the cameras to Perseverance.
When the rover descended, it cut 6.4-meter cables, allowing the descent stage to fly to land safely.
Another new image, made by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, captures Perseverance as it parachutes through the atmosphere at hundreds of kilometers per hour.
A second color image shows one of the rover’s six wheels, with several honeycomb rocks, believed to be over 3.6 billion years old, located next to it.
In particular, volcanic rocks can be dated with great precision once the evidence is brought back to Earth on a future return mission – an interesting development from the perspective of planetary science.
In particular, volcanic rocks can be dated with great precision once the evidence is brought back to Earth in a future return mission.
The first two images were released on Thursday shortly after the rover landed, but had a lower resolution in black and white due to the limited rate of data available.
NASA hopes to have more high-resolution photos and videos in the coming days, but it still doesn’t know if it successfully recorded sound on Mars for the first time using microphones.