NASA’s next flagship rover is one week away from landing on the Red Planet.
On February 18, the Mars Rover Perseverance will attempt to land a daring ascension similar to one followed by its predecessor Curiosity August 2012, and an email NASA video shows exactly how this will be done.
NASA calls the landing of the Curiosity rover a “disturbing”seven minutes of fright“like it’s never been done before. The rover had to nail its entire landing range on its own, from atmospheric parachute access to an unprecedented rocket-propelled glider maneuver, as Curiosity was lowered to the Martian surface because the range happened faster than which a signal can reach the earth from Mars.
Perseverance will have much the same approach, but the fear is still there if not every landing mission to Mars has ever made it safe to the surface.
Video: See how the Mars Rover Perseverance will land
More: The most daring Mars missions in history
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The new 4K penetration landing video begins with a shot from Mars, shortly followed by Perseverance striding to the surface after separating from a protective back shell.
In a special envelope, the crossbar hides through the upper part of the atmosphere and streaks across the sky. Near the landing it is hoped that microphones are on board will pick up the whistle of the wind – this is probably why NASA also puts the sound in the video.
The protective case will raise a parachute. Closer to the landing, the bottom falls away, with the top end clamped to the rover to make the surface move. A dramatic view of the video shows the wheels of perseverance exposed to the thin Mars atmosphere; moments later, the rear shell shoots down jets to slow down the landing even further.
In photos: NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover to the Red Planet
The man will move under the jets, and will make final adjustments to the landing site before launching a special “air crane” with a controlled descent to the surface. Just as the wheels will sit on the Mars regolith (ground), the crane will tear away from perseverance and the shell will break away safely from the rover so that it can roll once a routine system check shows that everything is fine.
A final dramatic pan from the video shows Perseverance on its own on the surface, though the rover will hopefully be in contact with hundreds of scientists and engineers on Earth to plan its first movements.
The Perseverance Rover, launched in July 2020, is expected to land on Mars at 15:55 EST (2055 GMT). Visit Space.com for full coverage of the landing day, starting at 12:30 EST (1730 GMT).
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