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NASA’s Perseverance rover was spotted on the Martian surface by an overhead camera on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
On February 23, ExoMars in Orbit, a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian State Corporation for Space Activities at Roscosmos, captured an image of Mars showing a small, faint dot – Perseverance – on the ground well below. Posted by ESA On February 25, the image also shows the rover’s dropped parachute and rear hull, heat shield, and rocket-powered descent stage, all of which were essential for Perseverance’s safe landing on February 18.
ExoMars also played a role in Heartbreaking landing of perseverance in the Jezero crater, relaying important data to Earth This showed the progress of the rover, ESA officials said in a statement.
Related: Here’s the last thing NASA’s Opportunity rover saw before the lights went out
The ESA-Roscosmos orbiter arrived on Mars five years before Perseverance, on October 19, 2016. Its scientific instruments sample and analyze molecules from the Martian atmosphere, so scientists can better understand how atmospheric gases appear in very small quantities, such as methane, can signal biological or geological activity on distant planets, according to ESA.
ExoMars also carries cameras and its Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) photographed Perseverance at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. The image is a snapshot of all the stages that led Perseverance through its descent, after the spacecraft lost its cruise stage.
The rear hull, a small white dot on the far left of the photo, fired small thrusters on the initial descent to keep Perseverance on track, according to NASA. Next to the back cover in the image is another white dot: Parachute of perseverance. It deployed when the rover slowed to less than 1,000 mph (1,600 km / h). Once the parachute was opened, the heat shield separated and fell to the ground; this shield is visible in the photo as a dark spot on the far right.
Perseverance then released the parachute, pulling motors into the descent stage. As soon as the rover landed, it cut the connecting cables, and the descent stage flew off to land away from Perseverance. It appears in the photo as a dark spot halfway between the rover, the parachute and the rear hull.
“The orbiter will continue to provide data relay support between Earth and Mars for NASA surface missions,” said the ESA statement. ExoMars will also play a supporting role when the European rover Rosalind Franklin and the Russian surface platform Kazachok arrive on Mars in 2023.
As Elton John sang on “Rocketman”, it’s lonely in space. But on Mars, at least, our robotic ambassadors on the ground and in orbit can “look” at each other.
Originally posted on Live Science.
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