LOS ANGELES: Nasa scientists on Friday introduced stunning early images from a perfect landing Mars rover Sustainability, including a selfie of the six-wheeled vehicle hanging just above the surface of the Red Planet times before the touchdown.
The color photograph, which appears to be an instant classic amid memorable images from the history of space lighting, was shot with a camera powered by rocket power “sky tree“level of descent just above the rover as the car – sized spacecraft was lowered Thursday into Martian soil.
The image was revealed by mission managers during an online news broadcast from the Nasa Jet Deployment Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles less than 24 hours after landing.
The photograph, looking down on the rover, shows the entire vehicle suspended from three unmanned cables from the sky mast, along with an “umbilical” communication cord. Blows of dust kicked by a bolt rocket thrushes are also visible.
Seconds later, the rover was slowly put on the wheels, its ropes were broken, and the skylight – its work completed – flew a safe distance away, though not before photos and data were taken. other collected during the descent to be given to the rover for safe keeping.
The image of the hanging science laboratory, clattering for its clarity and motion, marks the first such close-up image of a spaceship landing on Mars, or any extraterrestrial planet.
“This is something we’ve never seen before,” said Aaron Stehura, deputy director for descendants and team to come on the mission, describing himself and his colleagues as a “surprise” when viewed them on the image first.
INSTANTLY ICONIC
Adam Steltzner, chief engineer for the Sustainability project at JPL, said he immediately found the image, as opposed to the image of Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon in 1969, or the Voyager 1 probe images of Saturn in 1980.
He said the viewer is connected to an important moment representing years of work with thousands of people.
“You’re being taken to the surface of Mars. You’re sitting there, seven meters off the surface of the rover looking down,” he said. “It’s very moving, and it’s a real reminder of these other images from our experience as people moving out into our solar system. ”
The statue was erected at the very end of the series of “seven minutes of horror” that brought Stability from the top of Mars’ atmosphere, traveling at 12,000 miles per hour, to a quiet spot on the floor of a large hollow called the Jezero Crater .
Next week, NASA hopes to display more photos and video – some possibly audio – taken with the six cameras attached to the descending spacecraft, showing more of the sky mast movements, as well as the preceding supersonic parachute use.
Pauline Hwang, strategic mission manager, said the rover itself is “doing very well and healthy on the surface of Mars, and continues to be very operational and awesome.”
The vehicle reached about two kilometers from high cliffs at the base of an ancient delta river that was carved into the corner of the crater billions of years ago, when Mars was warmer, wetter and seemingly more hospitable than life.
Scientists say the site is ideal for pursuing Perseverance’s main goal – finding fossil traces of microbial life preserved in sediments believed to have been deposited around it. the long-gone delta and lake.
Samples of rock drilled from Martian soil are to be stored on the surface for retrieval and delivery to Earth by two future robotic missions to the Red Planet, as early as 2031.
Another color photo released Friday, captured moments after the rover ‘s arrival, shows a rocky expanse of land around the landing site and what appears to be the delta cliffs in the distance.
The mission’s surface team will spend the next few days and weeks disassembling, disassembling and testing the vehicle’s robot arm, communication antennae and other equipment, aligning instruments and rover software update, Hwang said.
She said it would be about nine “sols,” or Martian days, before the rover is ready for its first test spin.
One of Perseverance’s tasks before he begins to look for signs of microbial life is to use a small helicopter that transported him to Mars for a test flight outside the region never seen before. But Hwang said that effort was still about two months away.