Learn more about the rover, Perseverance and it’s job on Mars
NASA just made a great technological feat yesterday! NASA successfully landed its fifth robotic rover, Perseverance, on Mars. To successfully land on Mars is always a challenging feat, almost 50% of the spacecraft sent to the surface of Mars have failed. Perseverance traveled 293million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months since launching on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on July 30, 2020. Before landing on the surface of Mars, it had to plunge into the air at more than 12,500 mph and reduce this to a near-walking pace by the time it reaches the surface. It is a daunting prospect that NASA engineers call the “seven minutes of terror”. The rover is the most technologically advanced robot that NASA has ever sent to Mars, with the agency aiming to spend nearly two years exploring the surface. Perseverance will join its predecessor Curiosity, which landed Mars in 2012 and is still in operation. Now that the rover is on Mars, the work begins. Perseverance will explore Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake that existed 3.9 billion years ago, for microfossils; capture images of its surroundings and relay images to Earth; drop a small helicopter named Ingenuity so the helicopter can attempt the first flight on Mars that will last about 20 seconds; search for evidence of ancient life, study Mars’ climate and geology, collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth by 2030s; and will produce the first recordings of sound on the red planet. Keep an eye out from NASA in the next few days and weeks for more images and cool insights the rover has gathered so far!
