Deen“alt =” “/>
Video Credit: United Launch Alliance
Cameras mounted on the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket show the fierce ride in space for NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover after boarding the Florida Space Coast.
The Atlas 5 missile took off from Route 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT) on July 30, and stepped up an almost hour-long ascent, which ended with the deployment of the Mars 2020- spaceship on a trajectory Earth and towards the solar system.
The rocket accelerated the Mars 2020 spaceflight, which included the Perseverance rover, to a speed of nearly 25,000 mph, or 40,000 kilometers per hour, to begin the probes six-and-a-half-month cruise to the Red Planet. The Rover of Perseverance is due to land on Mars on February 18, 2021, to begin a mission by collecting samples for possible return to Earth, studying Martian geology and weather, and searching for signs of ancient life.
Read our full story for details on the mission.
The video above begins with a downward view of a camera on the first stage of Atlas 5, showing the 197-meter (60-meter) rocket that climbs off Route 41 with about 2.3 million pounds of steering. its kerosene-fueled RD-180 main engine and four strap-on solid rocket boosters.
The Atlas 5 ran across the Atlantic Ocean to the east of Cape Canaveral, speeding at 35 seconds, and throwing its four strap-on solid rocket boosters just before the two-minute mark of flight. Immediately jettison the Atlas 5’s aerodynamic nose cone, along with a structure designed to absorb loads in the first minutes of launch.
The first-stage kerosene-fed RD-180 exploded nearly four-and-a-half minutes before falling off, allowing the top of the Centaur rocket to accelerate NASA’s Perseverance Rover on an orbit toward Mars.
Email the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
