Perseverence on Mars

[Carole]

Perseverance viewed from its rocket cradle just before landing.



The American space agency has released an astonishing image sent back from Mars by its Perseverance rover.

It shows the robot heading down to the ground on Thursday to make its landing. It was acquired by the rocket cradle that placed the vehicle on the surface.


https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56133281

[The Thing]

That's such a cool shot.

[Carole]

Amazing video of the landing from Perseverence itself. 
You can watch the little symbols at the bottom to see what stage it is at.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC4wdD14VzE

[Rick]

Hero to Jezero: Perseverance, NASA's most advanced geologist rover, lands on Mars, beams back first pics

NASA just now successfully landed Perseverance, its largest and heaviest rover yet, on the surface of Mars in the Jezero Crater. The machine will conduct the ambitious mission to finding ancient microbial life on another planet.

"Touchdown confirmed. Perseverance has touched down on Mars," Swati Mohan, Navigation and Control Operations Lead of the Mars 2020 mission, said moments ago on NASA's live-streamed coverage of the landing, just before mission control erupted in applause.

After cruising though space for little over seven months, Perseverance entered its entry, descent, and landing stage, also fondly known at NASA as the seven minutes of terror.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/18/perseverance_landing/

[Rick]

NASA sends nuclear tank 293 million miles to Mars, misses landing spot by just five metres. Now watch its video

NASA successfully landed its fifth robotic rover on the surface of Mars just five metres from its target, the American space agency said after releasing footage of the historic landing.

As Perseverance plunged through the Martian atmosphere and shed its lower shell, its cameras were able to provide scientists with a view of what was going on above and below the vehicle. You can watch the drama unfold below as mission control recounts the various steps needed to slow the rover down from a whopping 5,300 metres per second to plonk it safely on the ground.

See the video

More: https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/23/perseverance_landing_video/

[Rick]

The Descent of Perseverance

The Mars 2020 descent stage holding NASA's Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, its parachute trailing behind, in this image taken on 18 February 2021. The ancient river delta, which is the target of the Perseverance mission, can be seen entering Jezero Crater from the left.

HiRISE was approximately 700 kilometers (435 miles) from Perseverance at the time of the image and traveling at about 3 kilometers per second (6,750 mph). The extreme distance and high speeds of the two spacecraft were challenging conditions that required precise timing and for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to both pitch upward and roll hard to the left so that Perseverance was viewable by HiRISE at just the right moment.

More: https://www.uahirise.org/releases/perseverance/

[Rick]

Here's a short interview with one of the scientists who'll be involved in the sample return part of the mission: https://soundcloud.com/user-492426953

[Rick]

'Dare mighty things': hidden message found on Nasa Mars rover parachute

nternet sleuths claim to have decoded a hidden message displayed on the parachute that helped Nasa's Perseverance Rover land safely on Mars last week. They claim that the phrase "Dare mighty things" – used as a motto by Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory – was encoded on the parachute using a pattern representing letters as binary computer code.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/feb/23/dare-mighty-things-hidden-message-found-on-nasa-mars-rover-parachute

[Rick]

5 Hidden Gems Are Riding Aboard NASA's Perseverance Rover

The symbols, mottos, and small objects added to the agency's newest Mars rover serve a variety of purposes, from functional to decorative.

More than halfway to the Red Planet, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover isn't just shuttling sophisticated science instruments and tubes to be filled with Earth-bound rock samples. It's carrying symbols, mottos, and objects that range from practical to playful – everything from meteorite fragments to chips carrying the names of 10.9 million people.

More: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/5-hidden-gems-are-riding-aboard-nasas-perseverance-rover

[Rick]

Here's another:  https://twitter.com/AlyshondraM/status/1363970174034927618

[Rick]

NASA's Perseverance Rover Gives High-Definition Panoramic View of Landing Site

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover got its first high-definition look around its new home in Jezero Crater on Feb. 21, after rotating its mast, or "head," 360 degrees, allowing the rover's Mastcam-Z instrument to capture its first panorama after touching down on the Red Planet on Feb 18. It was the rover's second panorama ever, as the rover's Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, also located on the mast, captured a 360-degree view on Feb. 20.

Mastcam-Z is a dual-camera system equipped with a zoom function, allowing the cameras to zoom in, focus, and take high-definition video, as well as panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface. With this capability, the robotic astrobiologist can provide a detailed examination of both close and distant objects.

More: https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8873/nasas-perseverance-rover-gives-high-definition-panoramic-view-of-landing-site/

[Rick]

Nasa's Perseverance rover takes its first drive on Mars

The American space agency's (Nasa) Perseverance rover has wiggled its wheels and undertaken its first drive across the surface of Mars.

Pictures downloaded to Earth on Friday indicate the excursion was a short roll and turn.

More: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56297996

[Rick]

NASA's Perseverance Drives on Mars' Terrain for First Time

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape. The drive served as a mobility test that marks just one of many milestones as team members check out and calibrate every system, subsystem, and instrument on Perseverance. Once the rover begins pursuing its science goals, regular commutes extending 656 feet (200 meters) or more are expected.

More: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-perseverance-drives-on-mars-terrain-for-first-time

[Rick]

Welcome to 'Octavia E. Butler Landing'

NASA has named the landing site of the agency's Perseverance rover "Octavia E. Butler Landing," after the science fiction author Octavia E. Butler. The landing location is marked with a star in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

More: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/welcome-to-octavia-e-butler-landing

[Rick]

Perseverance 360: Unusual Rocks and the Search for Life on Mars

APOD: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210309.html