Mars or Earth? NASA’s Perseverance rover takes stunning Earth-like photo



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NASA’s Perseverance rover has shared its latest images of Mars, revealing a hilly landscape that eerily resembles those found on Earth.

Nasa just shared his latest batch of photos from his Perseverance rover on Mars, one of which appears to have been taken here on Earth. While there are seemingly endless things to explore in space, Mars has really caught the attention of scientists, astronomers, and ordinary people. Whether it’s the curiosity to find life on Mars or working to make the planet habitable for future humans, Mars poses many questions that many people are trying to answer. As recently as last week, NASA’s InSight probe created a map of the interior of the Martian planet to better understand its many layers and how they compare to Earth.

Perseverance launched into space in July 2020, landed on Mars last February, and has spent the last few months patrolling the planet. He searches for new information about his surroundings, collects rock samples, and looks for signs of ancient life. Perseverance is also joined by the Ingenuity helicopter, which can take off and explore areas inaccessible by its rover brother. Ingenuity recently hit a milestone in flight, and Perseverance can now use its autonomous driving system to explore Mars on its own. In other words, the mission went incredibly well.

Related: NASA’s Mars Probe Looked Inside The Planet

NASA regularly shares photos taken directly from Perseverance and uploads them to its website for everyone to see. There are already 117,018 total images available, with this latest update adding 833 new ones to the mix. While all of the new photos are impressive for their own reasons, the one above is particularly noteworthy. Captured with one of Perseverance’s Mastercams (cameras representing the rover’s “head”), the image shows a cluster of hills on the surface of Mars. They have varying heights, subtle details in the rocks / sand they are made of and stand out against a calming yellow sky. At first glance, it would be easy to mistake this for a photo taken somewhere on Earth.

Mars looks like Earth and another world at the same time

Photo of Mars taken by NASA's Perseverance rover

NASA / JPL-Caltech

While some shots of Mars bear a striking resemblance to Earth, there are others that have a very alien feel – like this one captured by Perseverance’s left navigation camera. Not only does this show how strange the sky on Mars can be, it also reveals how barren and lifeless the planet’s surface is. There are rocks and dirt like anyone might find on Earth, but there are no trees, grass, pools of water, or animal life wandering around. These are things scientists have known about Mars for some time, but photos like this are a reminder of just how different Mars really is from Earth.

Despite these glaring differences, the desire to someday colonize Mars remains a priority for many people. NASA plans to land humans on Mars by 2033, the European Space Agency has similar goals and SpaceX claims it could launch its first crewed mission to Mars by 2024. Land people on Mars will be difficult enough, not to mention all the logistics that make it a habitable planet. It may be decades before this becomes a reality. Until then, robots like Perseverance and Ingenuity will continue to take these wonderful photos and offer detailed glimpses of what could be the future home of some humans.

Next: NASA’s Mars Helicopter Just Landed Incredible Distance Milestone

Source: NASA

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