Buddies

Look at these two!

Kolor stitching | 62 pictures | Size: 14114 x 13209 | Lens: Standard | RMS: 3.47 | FOV: NA | Projection: Stereographic | Color: LDR |

See https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/25790/perseverances-selfie-with-ingenuity/ for info on how the image was taken.

image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Ingenuity on the surface

Stop a moment and look at this image. The human eye loves a vanishing point image and this is a good one. Look at the way the tracks interact with features of the surface. Look at the other set of tracks to the right. Perseverance has been busy looking for just the right spot. Finally, look at Ingenuity, newly set on the surface of its new home, waiting for its chance to rise up and explore on its own.

image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance landing video

The video released today of Perseverance landing on Mars is astounding.
 
If you haven’t yet watched it, or even if you have, I urge you to watch the NASA presentation from 9:15 to 26:37 for full context of what you are seeing.

Perseverance landing

Here are a couple of “Wow!” shots of Perseverance.
The first is the rover under parachute, captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Think of the timing (and luck) that went into this shot. Wow!

The second is Perseverance hanging beneath the sky crane, a literal jetpack that brought the rover within meters of the surface then gently lowered it to touchdown. Seriously: Wow!

Perseverance on Mars

I took a few minutes last night to stand out in the cold and look up at Mars. That bright orange dot, right there next to the Moon: we built a robot, and we threw it at that dot, and that robot used its own wits to find the perfect landing spot, and now it sits there, ready to look for past life. On that bright orange dot, right there next to the Moon.

image: NASA/JPL-Caltech