NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed in the Jezero crater of Mars
This Thursday, February 18, the NASA Perseverance rover landed successfully on the Jezero crater of Mars, as planned. Now, it becomes the fifth exploration vehicle that the US space agency places on the surface of the “red planet”.
In a statement, NASA confirmed that after successfully overcoming the “seven minutes of terror”, which represented “traversing the thin atmosphere of Mars and descending on the rocky surface of the Jezero crater”, the explorer is ready to discover signs of life in the past.
El astronauta @AstroAcaba de @NASAArtemis envía sus mejores deseos al equipo de @NASAPersevere y anima a los puertorriqueños a seguir soñando con el espacio. #JuntosPerseveramos pic.twitter.com/9XImHNwjAr
— NASA en español (@NASA_es) February 18, 2021
Launched on July 30, 2020 and equipped with cutting-edge technology, the Perseverance is made up of 6 wheels, a measure that is close to 3 meters long and weighs 1,025 kilograms, and has the mission of searching Mars for signs of past microbial life and collect selected rock and sediment samples for future shipment to Earth.
Behold! @NASAPersevere's first image after completing her #CountdownToMars: pic.twitter.com/pBFNk62zfi
— NASA (@NASA) February 18, 2021
Three minutes before landing, the spacecraft deployed its parachute at supersonic speed and 20 seconds later the entry capsule detached from the heat shield. This allowed the rover to use radar to determine ground clearance and employ its terrain-relative navigation technology to find a safe landing site, as explained by NASA.
In addition, just one minute before touching the surface the rear half of the capsule attached to the parachute detached. At that moment, the structure surrounding the rover activated its retro-rockets to reduce speed and in the last few meters it dropped the rover with nylon straps attached to a crane. A great success celebrated by the entire team at the United States Space Agency.
Source: elsumario
