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From NASA Perseverance rover is ready to land on Mars, the agency confirmed today (February 16).
The rover, which launched this summer as the star of the agency’s March 2020 mission, will land on Thursday February 18 at Crater lake, an ancient delta on the Martian surface. Perseverance, or “Percy” for short, will explore Martian terrain and conduct a number of scientific investigations. Among his goals, Percy will collect samples, deploy the first helicopter beyond Earth, and search for signs of ancient life on the fourth planet from the sun.
“Perseverance works great,” said Jennifer Trosper, deputy director of Project Perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, during a press conference held almost today on the status of the rover two days before landing. . “The spacecraft is focused, the team is focused and we are all ready for landing,” Trosper added.
Related: How to watch NASA’s Perseverance rover land on Mars
Perseverance rover landing on Mars: all you need to know
Before landing, NASA crews sent the spacecraft the series of commands for the entry, descent, and landing sequence, known as EDL, said Trosper, starting the timeline of the ‘landing.
The spacecraft will enter the official EDL phase on Thursday. EDL, the shortest but most intense phase of the entire mission, is also known as “Seven Minutes of Terror”. During this seven-minute phase, the spacecraft must slow down from nearly 12,500 miles per hour (20,000 kilometers per hour) to zero miles per hour (0 km per hour) to land on the planet.
Step by step guide: How the Perseverance rover will land on Mars
Agency staff look forward to getting through these “seven minutes of terror” and safely landing the spacecraft.
“I feel great,” Trosper, who has worked on NASA’s five rover missions, told Space.com of the upcoming landing. “There’s no guarantee in this matter… we’re still talking about what Mars might throw at us this time around. And that’s never what it launched last time around and so we have to prepare for it.
“But,” she added, “the team is doing a great job, the spacecraft is solid. I’m leading the test program, I’m very confident that it will do the things we do. Again , no guarantees, but I feel awesome. “
“Whether it’s on the Red Planet or here at home on our blue marble, science can bring us together and create solutions to challenges that seem impossible,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Associate Administrator for Science, said during the press conference.
The rover is approaching the red planet, about 125 million miles (201 million kilometers) from Earth and less than 370,000 miles (595,000 km) from Mars, Trosper said. You can follow the spacecraft as it approaches the planet with a virtual mission simulation here.
And of course you can follow the landing day on February 18th. NASA will provide live coverage of the event from 2:15 p.m. EST (5:15 p.m. GMT). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly on NASA TV on YouTube.
Email Chelsea Gohd at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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