'I'm safe on Mars': NASA's Perseverance lands on Red Planet after '7 minutes of terror'

NASA’s perseverance on February 18 made a historic touchdown on Mars’ surface at 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST). explorer landed safely following ‘7 minutes of terror’ as dubbed by NASA, following which, JPL made an official anuncement in its mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Sourn California. NASA’s 2,263-pound (1,026-kilogram) robotic vehicle descended on western edge of Isidis. explorer, which hit landing site, Jezero Crater, will begin its mission to search signs of ancient microbial life and collect samples of rock and regolith, broken rock and soil, for its separate return mission to Earth. Perseverance will explore Jezero’s ancient lakebed and river delta to characterize region’s geology and past climate, and establish if planet was habitable billions of years ago. 

“A fundamental part of its mission is astrobiology, including search for signs of ancient microbial life. To that end,  Mars Sample Return campaign, being planned by NASA and ESA (European ncy), will allow scientists on Earth to study samples collected by Perseverance to search for definitive signs of past life using instruments too large and complex to send to Red Planet,” ncy informed, Thursday. As rover landed near Mars’ giant impact basin just rth of Martian equator, without any complications,  JPL Director Michael Watkins celebrated smooth landing saying, “Landing on Mars is always an incredibly difficult task and we are proud to continue building on our past success.” “But, while Perseverance advances that success, this rover is also blazing its own path and daring new challenges in surface mission,” he added. 

[Team at JPL erupts in hoots and applauds as Perseverance makes a safe landing on Mars Thursday. Credit: Twitter/@NASAPersevere]

Furr, explaining about mission, JPL Director Watkins informed, “We built rover t just to land but to find and collect best scientific samples for return to Earth, and its incredibly complex sampling system and automy t only enable that mission, but y also set st for future robotic and crewed missions.”  Perseverance rover is carrying at least seven primary science instruments, most cameras ever sent to Mars, and its exquisitely complex sample caching system – first of its kind sent into .

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Read: Mars Landing Live: NASA Confirms Perseverance Rover Has Successfully Landed On Red Planet

'Most sophisticated' robotic geologist

“Perseverance is most sophisticated robotic geologist ever made,” Lori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division said. “Verifying that microscopic life once existed carries an ermous burden of proof,” she stressed. According to NASA, rover’s Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected data about Mars’ atmosphere during entry, and  Terrain-Relative Navigation system helped vehicle land safely on Martian surface. Perseverance is fitted with French-built Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable science cameras on Perseverance’s remote sensing mast, or head, that creates high-resolution, color 3D paramas of Martian landscape. 

[JPL Perseverance team watches Mars rover land. Credit: NASA]

[ aeroshell containing NASA’s Perseverance rover guides itself towards Martian surface as it descends through atmosphere. Credit: NASA]

[This illustration shows events that occur in final minutes of nearly seven-month journey that NASA’s Perseverance rover takes to Mars. Credit: NASA]

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