Over the years, there have been several images from Mars, thanks to the number of visitors it had over the last couple of decades or so from various nations such as the United States, China, and now, even the United Arab Emirates with its Hope Mars probe.
However, a never before seen image was beamed back to Earth by Perseverance, the latest Mars land rover created and sent by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The End of the Seven Minutes of Terror
Everyone from around the world was all eyes on the Mars land rover last Thursday, Feb. 18, when it finally reached the Red Planet and was preparing for the "seven minutes of terror," which is the hardest part of the entire mission: nailing the landing.
Thankfully, Perseverance was able to stick the landing and is now starting its mission to look for signs of ancient life on the planet.
But before the historic moment, the land rover was able to snap something that no one has ever seen before, including astronomers who have been working on interplanetary explorations for a long time.
The image in question is a "selfie" from the Perseverance, just mere moments before it landed on Martian soil, showing it dangling just above the surface of Mars.
A Selfie from Percy
It looks down the entire rover, which is a car-sized vehicle, suspended from three cables that are connected to a rocket-powered "sky crane" during the descent-stage, with the rover connected to an "umbilical" communications cord.
After the rover was gently planted on its wheels on the surface, the sky crane has safely crashed away at a safe distance, but not before sending necessary data to scientists here on Earth.
Of course, the data included the image unveiled for everyone to see.
According to Reuters, the now-iconic photograph from the rover was unveiled by the mission managers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) during their online news briefing less than 24 hours after the successful landing.
The photo is now the first and only close-up photo of a spacecraft landing on any planet.
"This is something we've never seen before," said Aaron Stehura, a deputy lead for the Perseverance's descent and landing team, as per the new outlet, further describing him and his team as "awe-struck" by the amazing image.
'Instantly Iconic'
Meanwhile, Adam Steltzner, the chief engineer of the Perseverance project from the JPL said that he found the image as "instantly iconic" and something that can be compared with the image of astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he was standing on the moon in 1969.
"You are brought to the surface of Mars. You're sitting there, seven meters off the surface of the rover looking down," Steltzner said. "It's absolutely exhilarating, and it is evocative of those other images from our experience as human beings moving out into our solar system."
As of now, NASA was able to show the public some photos taken by Perseverance.
However, the space agency is hoping to show more next week, some possibly with audio from the Red Planet itself.
Read also: NASA Mars Perseverance Rover Landing: First Image Revealed, Red Planet's Sound May Come Next
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Written by: Nhx Tingson
