NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life

A NASA rover streaked through orange Martian sky and landed on planet Friday, accomplishing riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer wher life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at ncy's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped to ir feet, thrust ir arms in air and cheered in both triumph and relief on receiving confirmation that six-wheeled Perseverance had touched down on red planet, long a deathtrap for incoming craft.

“w amazing science starts,” a jubilant Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science mission chief, said at a news conference, where he atrically ripped up contingency plan in event of a failure and threw document over his shoulders.

landing marks third visit to Mars in just over a week. Two craft from United Arab Emirates and China swung into orbit around Mars on successive days last week. All three missions lifted off in July to take advant of close alignment of Earth and Mars, journeying some 300 million miles in nearly seven months.

Perseverance, biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became ninth craft since 1970s to successfully land on Mars, every one of m from U.S. car-size, plutonium-powered vehicle arrived at Jezero Crater, hitting NASA's smallest and trickiest target yet: a 5-by-4-mile strip on an ancient river delta full of pits, cliffs and rocks. Scientists believe that if life ever flourished on Mars, it would have happened 3 billion to 4 billion years ago, when water still flowed on planet.

Over next two years, Percy, as it is nicknamed, will use its 7-foot (2-meter) arm to drill down and collect rock samples containing possible signs of bygone microscopic life. Three to four dozen chalk-size samples will be sealed in tubes and set aside to be retrieved eventually by ar rover and brought homeward by ar rocket ship. goal is to get m back to Earth as early as 2031. Scientists hope to answer one of central questions of ology, philosophy and exploration.

“Are we alone in this sort of vast cosmic desert, just flying through , or is life much more common? Does it just emerge whenever and wherever conditions are ripe?” said deputy project scientist Ken Williford. “We're really on verge of being able to potentially answer se ermous questions.”

China's craft includes a smaller rover that will also seek evidence of life, if it makes it safely down from orbit in May or June. Two older NASA landers are still humming along on Mars: 2012's Curiosity rover and 2018's InSight. Perseverance was on its own during its descent, a maneuver often described by NASA as “seven minutes of terror.” Flight controllers waited helplessly as preprogrammed craft hit thin Martian atmosphere at 12,100 mph (19,500 kph), or 16 times speed of sound, slowing as it plummeted. It released its 70-foot (21-meter) parachute and n used a rocket-steered platform kwn as a sky crane to lower rover final 60 or so feet (18 meters) to surface.

It took a nail-biting 11 1/2 minutes for signal confirming landing to reach Earth, setting off back-slapping and fist-bumping among flight controllers wearing masks against coronavirus. Perseverance promptly sent back two grainy, black-and-white photos of Mars' pockmarked, pimply-looking surface, rover's shadow visible in frame of one picture.

“Take that, Jezero!” a controller called out.

NASA said that descent was flawless and that rover came down in a “parking lot" — a relatively flat spot amid hazardous rocks. Hours after landing, Matt Wallace, NASA deputy project manr, reported that craft was in great shape. Mars has proved a treacherous place for world's faring nations, U.S. included. In span of less than three months in 1999, a U.S. craft was destroyed upon entering orbit because engineers had mixed up metric and English units, and an American lander crashed on surface after its engines cut out prematurely.

President Joe Biden tweeted congratulations over landing, saying: "Today proved once again that with power of science and American ingenuity, thing is beyond realm of possibility.” NASA is teaming up with European ncy to bring rocks home. Perseverance's mission alone costs nearly USD 3 billion.

only way to confirm or rule out signs of past life is to analyze samples in world's best labs. Instruments small eugh to be sent to Mars wouldn't have necessary precision. “It's really most extraordinary, mind-boggingly complicated and will-be history-making exploration campaign,” said David Parker, European ncy's director of human and robotic exploration.

Former astronaut and one-time NASA science chief John Grunsfeld tweeted that Perseverance's landing was “exactly good news and inspiration we need right w.” “Reminds us all that we will persevere COVID and political turmoil and that best is yet to come,” he said.  

(Im Credits: AP)