NASA’s Perseverance rover has safely landed on Mars after its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth, the agency confirmed.
CNN reports that the rover sent back its first images of the landing site immediately after landing.
The rover has been on a nearly 300 million-mile journey since it left Earth more than 6 months ago.
Humanity’s love affair with Mars is an enduring one, full of wonder about the possibility of life on this mysterious neighbouring planet. This historic mission can search for evidence that could give us the answer.
Perseverance is full of firsts. The search for signs of ancient life on Mars. The first helicopter fly on another planet. The first recordings of sound on the red planet.
NASA’s most sophisticated rover to date has a packed agenda for the next few years.
The rover will explore Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake that existed 3.9 billion years ago, and search for microfossils in the rocks and soil there. Follow-up missions will return samples of this site collected by Perseverance to Earth by the 2030s.
Along for the ride with Perseverance is an experiment to fly a helicopter, called Ingenuity, on another planet for the first time.
Once the rover has landed on Mars, you can follow its journey using an interactive map. Any raw images sent back by the rover this week and going forward will also be immediately available to the public on NASA’s site.
Culled from CNN
