The Perseverance robot suspended two meters from the ground just before its landing, the surface of Mars in color… Nasa published several new exceptional images on Friday, the day after the arrival of its new mission on the red planet.
During the final phase of its landing, over the last 20 meters, the vehicle was slowly placed on the ground, suspended by three cables from the descent stage - a machine equipped with eight retro-rockets having finished slowing it down on its descent.
The Best is Yet to Come.
This high-res image shot by @NASAPersevere while landing on Mars is part of a video taken by several cameras on board that is still being relayed to Earth and processed.
https://t.co/uu8DlvlU2u #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/wVTbn81JvF
- NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) February 20, 2021
The photo, unpublished, was taken from below this descent stage, and thus shows the bottom of the robot, its six wheels deployed, and under it, the immensity of Martian soil.
“You can see the dust raised by the engines,” marveled Adam Steltzner, chief engineer at Perseverance, unveiling the snapshot at a press conference.
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Perseverance on Mars: 5 minutes to understand this historic moment
Another image, this time taken by the MRO probe in orbit around Mars, captured the descent just before this step: we can see, zooming in, the robot protected by its entry capsule into the atmosphere, slowed down by his huge supersonic parachute, fully inflated.
The descent stage holding NASA's Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere
The descent of Perseverance could be documented by the MRO probe orbiting Mars.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
In a third photo, the first in color sent by Perseverance from the surface of Mars, the shadow of the vehicle is drawn on the ground, where there are some rocks, and in the distance on the horizon, a relief - like the shadow from a cliff.
The first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover
This color image of the surface of Mars was taken by one of Perserverance's cameras.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
At the sight of these images, "the teams were unleashed", said Pauline Hwang, in charge of operations on the Martian surface.
“The group of messages from the scientific team got on fire, they said
look at this, look at this
!
"
Exploration awaits.
I'm adjusting to my new home, and later today, Feb.
19 at noon PT (3pm ET / 2000 GMT) you can hear my team discuss how I'm preparing to get down to business.
Join the live Q&A by tagging #CountdownToMars.
https://t.co/D8Nxdv5fgK pic.twitter.com/WXnqalGyUW
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 19, 2021
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In a fourth image, also in color, we can see one end of one of the six wheels of the vehicle, and the surface of the red planet - rather yellow, although the color still needs to be corrected slightly.
One of the six wheels aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover is seen in a high-resolution, color image
A color image of the planet Mars, taken by Perseverance.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
On the ground are honeycombed rocks between 3.8 and 3.7 billion years old, which are of particular interest to NASA.
Still questions
“One of the questions we're going to ask ourselves first is whether these rocks are of volcanic or sedimentary origin,” said Katie Stack Morgan, associate scientist for the project.
“We could have landed on a lava flow!
“Two images had already been made public on Thursday, taken from the front and rear of the robot, but in low quality and in black and white.
And another look behind me.
Welcome to Jezero Crater.
#CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/dbU3dhm6VZ
- NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 18, 2021
NASA is also unable to confirm whether Martian sound could for the first time be recorded by microphones.
Confirmation will come "late this weekend or early next week," said Adam Steltzner.