Done! The Perseverance rover has just landed successfully in the Jezero crater, NASA has just announced, which signs an incredible new achievement!
On July 30, NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched. His goal:to release the Perseverance rover on the surface of the red planet. After nearly seven months of travel and more than 470 million kilometers traveled through space, Perseverance finally landed in Jezero Crater, as planned.
The actual entry, descent and landing process took just seven minutes (the riskiest of the mission).
The first milestone in this event occurred around 9:38 p.m. French time, when the rover's capsule separated from the probe. About ten minutes later, the capsule began its journey through Mars' atmosphere at almost 20,000 km/h, before starting to slow down. A huge parachute then opened to further slow down the capsule.
Finally, the descent stage successfully detached from the parachute as it approached the surface, before suspending the rover at the end of three cables 21 meters above the ground . These three cables were then cut as soon as the wheels of the rover touched down. Seconds after landing, Perseverance sent us this photo, the first of a long list to come:
Once operational, its objectives will be to characterize the site , to explore the Martian geology, to measure the atmospheric and meteorological properties of the planet, but also to search for traces of microbial life that once evolved on the planet. In the meantime, the American agency will hold a press conference tomorrow around 7 p.m. (French time) to provide an update on the mission. Stay tuned!
