Perserverance Rover & 7 Minutes of Terror
Perseverance rover, artist rendition (credit: NASA/JPL)
NASA's Perseverance rover is within days of landing on Mars.
Before the robotic science laboratory, carrying several experimental technologies, can be deployed it must safely land in the selected target, Jezero Crater. This crater was selected for its potential to determine if life ever existed on Mars. However before any experiments can be conducted, the rover must safely land during what the Jet Propulsion Laboratory calls: 7 Minutes of Terror. The multi-step process is illustrated by an animation the Lab created. Each step, required for landing the van-sized rover, must be executed correctly in the thin Martian atmosphere.
You can watch the process on various media platforms as well as NASA TV. Hopefully there will be cheering crowds at JPL after those 7 minutes are over. WHB