The physics of orbiting bodies is about to take away our communication with Mars for a couple weeks.
Buddies
Look at these two!
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
Driving on Mars
Want to know what it sounds like to drive on Mars? Well, here you go…
Perseverance moves
Perseverance is on the move!
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.
YouTube 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
Perseverance landing animation
You should watch this animation of how Perseverance will land on Mars this week. Really.
image: NASA/JPL (screengrab from video)
Lots going on this month!
I’ve been working on the next book, and so haven’t mentioned all the cool stuff going on with Mars this month. Over the past week, two spacecraft successfully inserted themselves into orbit around the planet.
The Hope orbiter, from the United Arab Emirates, will be studying weather patterns.
The Tianwen-1 mission, from China, is composed of an orbiter, deployable camera, lander, and rover. The overall mission objective is to search for evidence of life and to assess the environment. The lander and its rover will attempt to land in May of this year.
And next week, on the afternoon of February 18, Perseverance will land in Jezero Crater. Perseverance will be looking for evidence of past and present life, testing oxygen production technology for future human missions, collecting rock and regolith samples for eventual return to Earth, and flying the first helicopter on Mars.
For more information on Perseverance, check out this in-depth article from The Smithsonian.
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Smithsonian Magazine