NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image Thursday with its left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras high on the mast of the rover. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
Perseverance documents the surface of Mars. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
The documented surface of Mars is a detail from Perseverance. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
The navigation cameras on board the Mars rover captured this image of the rover’s deck on Monday. This view provides a view of PIXL (the planetary X-ray lithochemistry instrument), one of the instruments on the rover’s stowed arm. Photo courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech
This panorama, taken by Perseverance’s navigation cameras, was stitched together from six separate images after they were returned to Earth. Subsequent missions, currently being considered by NASA in conjunction with the European Space Agency, would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis. Photo courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech
This is the first high-resolution color image returned from the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) at the bottom of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after landing on Feb. 18. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
This high-resolution still image, from the camera onboard the descent, is part of a video taken by several cameras when NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
Perseverance can be seen by attacking Mars’ atmosphere in the descent phase, with the parachute behind, in this image taken Thursday by the High-Resolution Imaging Experiment camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The ancient river delta, which is the target of the Perseverance mission, can be seen entering from the left to Jezero Crater. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
An illustration shows the robber in the foreground driving across the plain of Jezero Crater, where the robot scout landed safely. Image courtesy of NASA
An image showing where the Perseverance Mars rover landed is shown during a NASA Perseverance rover mission post-landing update, Feb. 18, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Photo by Bill Ingalls / NASA | License photo
Members of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover team watch in mission control as the first images arrive shortly after the spacecraft successfully hit Mars. Photo by Bill Ingalls / NASA | License photo
The first photos taken by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after landing on the surface of Mars. A major goal of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. Photo courtesy of NASA | License photo
These computer simulations show that perseverance lands on the surface of Mars. The rover will characterize past geology and climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Image courtesy of NASA | License photo
In this illustration of its descent to Mars, the spacecraft with NASA’s Perseverance rover slows down due to the drag generated by its movement in the Martian atmosphere. Hundreds of critical events must be executed just in time for the rover to land safely on Mars. Entering, descending and landing, or “EDL”, begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere, at a speed of nearly 12,500 mph. The cruise phase separates about 10 minutes before entering the atmosphere and exits the aeroshell, which encloses the rover and the descent staircase, to make the journey to the surface. Image courtesy of NASA | License photo
An illustration of Perseverance on Mars launched from Earth in July. It is the fifth rover to successfully reach Mars, and it is the first of three to return rock monsters to Earth. Image courtesy of NASA | License photo