Nuclear MonsterNASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has several cameras that record high resolution footage to give us these never before seen views of our neighbor Mars and the landing process it takes to get there.
NASA and JPL also released this amazing audio giving us an opportunity to hear what standing on Mars sounds like with the noise of the rover filtered out:
and including the noise from the rover:
NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory put out a statement after the successful landing:
The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST).
Packed with groundbreaking technology, the Mars 2020 mission launched July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover mission marks an ambitious first step in the effort to collect Mars samples and return them to Earth.
Ars has a guide to what’s going on with the new exploring metal guy today, the automated navigation system that will guide the rover to a safe landing, and a little bit about the first-of-it’s kind drone that will launch from Perseverance.
You can tune in to watch the status of the mission via NASA TV and elsewhere starting at 2:15PM/1415 EST.