Excited engineers unveiled “fantastic” new photos of the Perseverance Mars rover Friday, includes a dramatic overhead shot showing the six-wheeled robot being taken to the surface of Jezero Crater with its rocket-powered backpack.
Another photo, this one taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it flew over the landing site during the rover’s descent Thursday, showed Perseverance’s flying saucer-shaped aeroshell suspended beneath the rover’s parachute against the backdrop of Crater lake
NASA / JPL-Caltech
The first color photo It was also shown from the surface, courtesy of a hazard-avoiding camera, or “hazcam,” mounted just below Volharding’s body, showing a crystal-clear image of the rubble-strewn ground where the rover landed.
For Adam Steltzner, chief engineer of the Perseverance mission and the man who descended the Curiosity rover to Mars in 2012, the image of Perseverance hung from above was nothing short of inspiring.
“The team is overwhelmed with excitement and joy to have successfully landed another rover on Mars,” he said.
Show off iconic photos of previous space triumphs, from astronaut Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon to the Hubble Space Telescopes “Pillars of Creation“and a spectacular image of the ringed Saturn,” said Steltzner, “We can only hope … that one day we can contribute another iconic image to this collection.”
NASA / JPL-Caltech
“I’m hopeful we can do this today,” he said, revealing Perseverance’s shot from above. “There are some fantastic photos we have been able to take that are still coming off the surface … and hopefully we’ll be able to see them in the next few days.”
Perseverance Nations Thursday covered a seven-month journey from Earth, covering 293 million miles.
The last leg of the journey, and by far the most risky Since launch, the seven-minute descent from the top of Mars’ atmosphere to the floor of the Jezero Crater has been using a supersonic parachute, new hazard avoidance systems, and the rocket-powered descent that lowered the rover to touchdown.
“I’m happy to say the rover is doing great and is healthy on the surface of Mars,” said Pauline Hwang, assistant strategic mission manager.
The dramatic “overhead crane” maneuver brought persistence to the surface in an area known as Canyon de Chelly, just past a wide delta formation that fans out from the rim of Jezero Crater. The delta consists of deposits brought in by a river that once cut a channel in the rim of the crater.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona
Perseverance will study deposits at the bottom of Jezero and the delta, collecting rock and soil samples that could reveal the presence of ‘biosignatures’, remnants of microbial life in the past. NASA is working with the European Space Agency on plans to collect the samples late this decade and return them to Earth for analysis.
“To say the Perseverance science team is excited that this rover is safe on Mars is an understatement,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist. ‘We’ve been waiting for this moment for years. And then we are finally here. ‘
But first, engineers plan to spend several weeks activating the rover’s communication systems, upgrading the computer software, viewing the scientific instruments, immobilizing and testing the robotic arm, and releasing a small helicopter to to test the feasibility of a flight in the rarefied atmosphere of Mars.
Over the weekend, engineers plan to set up Perseverance’s remote sensing tower so that high-resolution cameras can capture panoramic images of the rover’s upper body and its immediate surroundings in Jezero Rater. The software upgrade, a four-day process, is expected to be performed later next week.
In the meantime, new photos of the rover’s dramatic descent and possibly video are expected by Monday, when NASA plans another newsletter.