NASA / JPL-CALTECH
By Paul Voosen
Sometimes it pays to be your own photographer. Cameras mounted on the crane that brought perseverance to the surface of Mars yesterday captured the descendant of the rover, NASA reported today. The photo above shows the rover threading the needle to land in a rocky area, 2 kilometers south of an ancient delta in the Jezero crater of the Red Planet – a place found with its autonomous navigation system. The rover is perhaps 2 feet from the surface, dust lit up by its engines. More shots of the Perseverance area, including video, are expected to be released this weekend or early next week, uploaded to the mission’s image website.