Relief at NASA: Rover “Perseverance” lands on Mars

Greetings to NASA: After six months of flight, the “Perseverance” rover landed on Mars. It is said to remain for several years looking for traces of previous microbial life. Climate and geology will also be investigated.

The Mars rover “Perseverance” has successfully landed on the Red Planet. “Landing confirmed,” Operations Manager Swati Mohan said on the live broadcast of the US space agency NASA. Cheers broke out at the control center in Pasadena, California.

The rover had entered the Martian atmosphere about seven minutes earlier. Then a landing parachute was opened, a heat shield was released: the gears slowed further and “Perseverance” eventually landed in a dry lake called “Jezero Crater” that had never been surveyed on site.

“Seven minutes of terror”

The landing maneuver was extremely difficult. NASA spoke in advance of “seven minutes of horror.” Soon after, a first black and white photo of the surface of Mars taken by “Perseverance” was published.

The mini helicopter “Ingenuity” flies with you

The rover will spend several years searching for traces of previous microbial life on Mars and investigating geology and climate. The rover has a two-meter-long robotic arm, as well as 19 cameras and two microphones.

Additionally, “Perseverance” will bring the “Ingenuity” ultralight mini-helicopter to Mars, which will be the first aircraft to fly over a foreign planet. This is a particular challenge because the Martian atmosphere is only one percent the density of Earth’s atmosphere.

It weighs only 1.8 kilograms and consists of four feet, a missile, and two propellers. “Ingenuity” is equipped with four solar panels to recharge its batteries. A large part of the energy is required to warm up the aircraft again after night temperatures of minus 90 degrees.

“Perseverance” is the fifth rover to be taken to Mars.