NASA scout Perseverance landed safely on Mars

NASA has once again successfully landed an unmanned explorer on Mars. That was shown on livebeelden that were broadcast by the American space agency. After a journey of some 480 million kilometers, the Martian cart Perseverance arrived on the red planet at 10 p.m. Dutch time.

The probe flew at 20,000 kilometers per hour – protected by a heat shield – into the thin atmosphere of Mars. The next seven minutes were described by NASA as “seven minutes of cold sweat” because there was no direct communication with Perseverance: the delay in radio contact between Mars and Earth is about ten minutes. At 21.56 Dutch time, the scout landed with a parachute on the surface of the planet.

Perseverance’s work area is the crater Jezero. There, billions of years ago, when water would have flowed on Mars, a river might have flowed into a lake. De Marskar must investigate whether old traces of life can still be found in the crater. There are more than twenty cameras, a drill and two microphones on board the explorer, so that we will soon be able to hear Mars for the first time.

Perseverance has to collect dozens of soil samples on Mars. These tubes will be left on the planet and – if all goes well – picked up by a European Martian cart around 2028. This Sample Fetch Rover also takes a launch pad and a man-sized rocket, with which the samples can be sent back to Earth.

It is the fifth time that NASA has sent a mobile laboratory to Mars. Previously, the American explorers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity drove around Mars.

Also read: Seven exciting minutes for monster mission to Mars

Correction (Feb. 18, 2021): An earlier version of this message stated that the NASA scout had landed at 10:56 pm. This had to be 9.56 pm and has now been adjusted.

–