NASA’s Perseverance rover has been on the floor of Mars for a number of days, giving the staff right here on Earth time to run system checks and obtain preliminary information from the robotic. The company has now launched the primary giant batch of media from the mission, together with lots of of nonetheless photos and the primary video and audio ever recorded on Mars.
Some previous Mars missions have despatched again “movies,” however these have been really GIFs stitched collectively from a handful of nonetheless frames. Perseverance has 23 cameras, a number of of which might file full-motion video. NASA used a few of these cameras to seize the rover’s touchdown in unimaginable element.
The video beneath exhibits all the touchdown process, beginning because the descent stage started lining up for its landing in Jezero Crater. Early within the video, an upward-facing digital camera filmed the parachute deployment, whereas the downward view confirmed the warmth protect dropping off. With the rover uncovered, the touchdown cameras and radar have been in a position to pick the touchdown zone, which is solely autonomous as Mars is simply too distant to manage the robotic in real-time.
The actually superb a part of the touchdown video comes the sky crane works its magic. Identical to Curiosity, Perseverance used a rocket-powered sled to hover simply above the floor, permitting the crane to put it gently on the planet earlier than flying off to crash a secure distance away. This time, NASA and the remainder of the world will get to see the sky crane in motion from a number of angles: there’s video of the dusty crater flooring beneath the rover, a shot from the rover wanting up on the crane, and a video from the crane wanting down at Perseverance because it dangled on the finish of the cables. On the very finish, you possibly can see the sky crane float out of body because it strikes away from the lander.
Your front-row seat to my Mars touchdown is right here. Watch how we did it.#CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/Avv13dSVmQ
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 22, 2021
Following the touchdown, NASA flipped the change on Perseverance’s microphones, that are a brand new addition this yr. The InSight lander was in a position to file sounds in a roundabout method by translating vibrations in its photo voltaic panels into audio, however Perseverance has simply returned the primary actual sound from Mars. As anticipated, it’s quiet and a bit of eerie.
Now that you simply’ve seen Mars, hear it. Seize some headphones and hearken to the primary sounds captured by one in all my microphones. 🎧https://t.co/JswvAWC2IP#CountdownToMars
— NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 22, 2021
The staff is presently engaged on getting the rover’s high-gain antenna on-line. When that occurs, will probably be simpler to ship and obtain information from Perseverance. Within the meantime, there are already lots of of recent photos from Mars accessible on the Mas 2020 web site. You possibly can verify usually to see extra of the uncooked information and mission updates.
Now learn:
