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Friday, February 19, 2021
“What a beautiful day”
NASA celebrates a successful landing on Mars
After 203 days of flight, the American robot “Perseverance” lands on Mars. NASA chief Jurczyk talks about a key moment for international space research. But the true mission of the rover is just beginning.
The American rover “Perseverance” has successfully landed on Mars. “Landing confirmed,” he said Thursday from the US space agency Nasa’s control center in Pasadena, California, to applause and cheers from engineers and scientists. Just minutes after landing, “Perseverance” sent out its first black and white pixelated photos, including the rover’s shadows and wheels, as well as the surface and horizon of Mars.
“What a wonderful day,” said Acting NASA Chief Steve Jurczyk. “What a wonderful team that has worked through all the adversities and challenges that come with landing a rover on Mars, and then the challenges of the corona pandemic.” US President Joe Biden took to Twitter to congratulate everyone involved on their successful landing: “Today it has been proven once again that nothing is impossible with the power of American science and ingenuity.”
Launched in July 2020 from the Cape Canaveral spaceport, the robot landed, after 203 days of flight and 472 million kilometers traveled, with a risky maneuver that lasted several minutes in a dry lake called “Jezero Crater” than ever before. it had been examined on site. . “Perseverance” is to investigate this lake with a diameter of around 45 kilometers during the next two years. Based on initial findings, the rover was in good condition after landing, NASA manager Matt Wallace said.
The construction of “Perseverance” took eight years
The development and construction of the roughly $ 2.5 billion robot, about 2.2 billion euros, took eight years. You will look for traces of previous microbial life on Mars and investigate the planet’s climate and geology. In addition, the robot should help with preparations for the planned manned exploration of Mars in the 2030s, said Acting NASA Chief Jurczyk. “This landing is one of those milestones for NASA, the United States, and global space exploration.”
The roughly 1,000-kilogram small-car-sized robot has seven science instruments, 23 cameras, a laser and numerous small helicopter premieres from NASA, and for the first time samples from Mars will be brought to Earth in a jointly developed mission with the European Space Agency Esa.
“It’s all so surreal”
Due to the corona pandemic, only about half of the NASA employees who would normally work there during such a maneuver were present at the control center. They wore masks with an image of the rover, kept their distance between them, and after the confirmation of the successful landing they did not hug as usual, but simply clapped with glee. “The team is going nuts, everything is so surreal,” said chief engineer Rob Manning. The large plastic box of peanuts, which is usually passed before such a landing attempt and is supposed to bring good luck, has been replaced by individual packages for everyone, he had previously revealed.
At a press conference a few hours after the successful landing, NASA manager Thomas Zurbuchen symbolically broke the emergency plan that had been drawn up and printed on paper for the failure of the mission. “Perseverance” is already the fifth rover that NASA has brought to Mars, the last time “Curiosity” got there in 2012. Overall, however, not even half of all Mars missions launched worldwide have been successful so far.
Last week, space probes from the United Arab Emirates and China successfully entered the planet’s orbit in rapid succession. It is assumed that “Al-Amal”, the UAE probe, will not land, the landing of the Chinese spacecraft “Tianwen 1” is scheduled in two or three months.
“I’m safe on Mars,” he told himself after landing on the “Perseverance” Twitter account. “Perseverance will get you anywhere.” The landing was also confirmed on NASA’s Twitter profile, with the addition: “The countdown to Mars has ended, but the mission has only just begun.”
