After a seven-month journey to the Red Planet, the Perseverance rover is finally ready to land Mars. We’ve got you covered for the historic landing, as you can follow the dreaded “seven minutes of terror” live here.
“No Mars landing is guaranteed, but we’ve prepared a decade to put the wheels of this rover on the surface of Mars and go to work,” said Jennifer Trosper, deputy project manager for the Mars 2020 mission at NASA’s Jet. Propulsion Laboratory, in one pronunciation
Indeed, space is difficult, as the saying goes, and Mars, named after the Roman god of war, always presents a challenge to future visitors.About 60% of all missions to Mars have failed, which is a sobering reminder of the complexity involved. This next attempt will be no exception, with NASA describing Thursday landing as the most precise to date. The rover will have to rely on unproven navigational aids while trying to avoid hazards such as rocky fields, hills and the sheer walls of the Jezero crater.
But the stage is set, and The $ 2.7 billion Perseverance rover is expected to surface Thursday at 3:55 PM EST (12:55 PM PST), February 18th. Coverage on NASA’s live stream, which you can watch below, starts at 2:15 pm EST (11:15 am PST).
We provided the feed from YouTube, but other channels that have the broadcast include Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Nerve twitching Daily exercise Theta.TV, and the NASA appSpanish speakers can follow the action hereOther cool options include one clean food from NASA Mission Control and a 360 degree stream via YouTube. A post-landing newsletter is scheduled for 5:30 pm EST (2:30 pm PST) for you to watch here
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It takes about 11 minutes for radio signals to travel the distance from Mars to Earth, meaning Perseverance will have to do this on its own. It also means that by then we will be behind the actual action on Mars, which NASA has adjusted in its schedule. That said, “Mission controllers” may not be able to confirm these milestones at the times listed … because of the complexity of deep space communications, ”NASA said.
Perseverance will plow in the atmosphere of Mars at speeds up to 12,100 mph (19,500 km / h) at 3:48 pm EST (12:48 pm PST). The following seven minutes of terror will involve extreme heat, the deployment of a supersonic parachute, and the separation of the rover from the heat shield and back shell. By the time it hits the dirt– with the help of retrorockets and tethers – persistence will be slowed to walking pace.
Once the red dust settles, Perseverance will take pictures of the environment and send it back to Earth. Mission controllers will also assess the rover’s health, in a process expected to take more than a month. During this time, Perseverance will deploy its mast, resulting in even more images and possibly even a selfie. Mission controllers will also take the time to evaluate the status of Ingenuity – a small helicopter brought along for the trip.
Assuming everything is in order, Persistence will then formally enter the scientific phase of the mission as it will look for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover’s new home, the Jezero Crater, was once covered in water and fed by a flowing river, making it an ideal environment for this robotic astrobiologist.
Should all go well, the rover will be the fifth to reach the red planet, its predecessors being Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. Fingers are tightly crossed that we are about to witness a historic landing and a fertile one next chapter in our ongoing exploration of Mars.