The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Perseverance Mars rover has already made its landing last Thursday, Feb. 18, but until now, people can't stop talking about the Martian probe, especially as the space agency has released the video of its nerve-wracking descent to the surface as well as the highly-anticipated audio from the Red Planet.
The Amazing Touchdown Caught on Camera
Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) ensured that Perseverance would be festooned with cameras for its Mars mission, with seven of those dedicated to record its landing.
Now, the space agency has finally revealed the video of the descent on their YouTube channel, which includes the final moments of the so-called "seven minutes of terror" that entails the whole landing process of the rover.
The video shows the process both in real-time and at 30% speed to allow the public to see every detail of the descent.
It starts from when the spacecraft carrying the rover enters the Martian atmosphere with the parachute being deployed, to the powered descent of the rover with the "sky crane," and finally as it landed on Mars' Jezero Crater, where we can see the planet's red dust flying away as the Perseverance prepares for its gentle touchdown.
As the land rover hits the ground and the sky crane flies away to crash from a distance safely, the video shows people behind the mission jumping and shouting for joy with the successful landing.
"We have taken everyone along with us on our journeys across the Solar System, through the rings of Saturn, looking back at the 'Pale Blue Dot' and incredible panoramas on the surface of Mars. This is the first time we've been able to actually capture an event like the landing of a spacecraft on Mars," said Mike Watkins, the director of JPL, as per BBC.
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First Sound of Mars Released
Besides the astounding video of the descent, NASA has also revealed the first-ever recorded audio of Mars as they have promised.
The audio was released this Monday, Feb. 22, on SoundCloud.
More sounds of Mars: https://t.co/wRrDvkUxeC
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 22, 2021
According to NBC News, the sound of the Red Planet was recorded via the two microphones attached to Perseverance.
The clip is short, and at one point, there is a buzzing sound that could be heard, which lead engineer for Perseverance's camera and microphone subsystem, Dave Gruel, is from the rover itself, but at around the 10-second mark, the land rover was able to capture a guttural sound of Mars' wind gust, which marks the first time humanity has heard of the Red Planet.
"Imagine yourself sitting on the surface of Mars and listening to the surroundings," Gruel said during a news briefing held on Monday, further describing the moment as "overwhelming."
We might hear more of Mars soon, especially as Gruel said they would continue to record sounds from the Red Planet as Perseverance continues its mission of finding evidence of ancient life on Mars.
Gruel said that they are counting on the land rover to capture more of Mars' sounds and probably learn something new about the planet.
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Written by: Nhx Tingson
