Just a few days after landing on Mars, Perseverance beamed back some tunes so we could be a part of this literal intergalactic ‘party off planet’ – listen below to the first-ever audio recorded on another planet!
With the world watching, years of excitement, wonder and hope was released through a collective global sigh (and a few tears here) following NASA’s “seven minutes of terror” as Perseverance entered Mars’ atmosphere, reduced its speed from approx. 12,000 mph to zero with autonomous parachute deployment and landed safely in the Jezero Crater on Mars as planned.
Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, CA leapt from their stead with cheers and socially-distant fist-bumps.
“It’s so surreal” was heard over the NASA video feed as news comes in that “Perseverance is alive on the surface of Mars.”
Moments later, the first image was transmitted back to us humble Earthlings; a fish-eye style view of the majestic shadow of Perseverance as it cast across the surface of the Red Planet.
NASA / JPL
Around the world, the excitement was marked throughout the week with landmarks including the Empire State Building and the pylons at LAX illuminated with glowing red lights in honor of this historic event.
As a recovering flight attendant, any talk of landing automatically brings back memories of a speech we all know. The wild part is that in 10 or 20 years from today, some of us may actually get to hear it as we descend upon our nearest planetary neighbor, thus becoming the very aliens we have long-feared from Mars.
“We are on final descent for the Red Planet and will be landing on Mars shortly. Please remain in your seats and keep your seatbelts fastened until mission control has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign.”
For a trip that lasted 7 months, I’d be the first one to get out!
“The local time doesn’t matter and one year here is the equivalent of 687 days on Earth! Thank you for flying with Mars Express. Buh-bye.”
Back to reality for a moment because there is an incredible event taking place in just about an hour!
NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities and events as the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover nears entry, descent, and landing on the Red Planet, with touchdown scheduled for approximately 3:55 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 18.
Live coverage and landing commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will begin at 2:15 p.m. on the NASA TV Public Channel and the agency’s website, as well as the NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV.
On November 19, 2018, NASA announced the landing site for the Mars 2020 Rover, which is now just a few minutes away! The location for landing was selected after a five-year search of the Red Planet. Jezero Crater, a 28-mile wide area just north of the Martian equator, offers the promise of different types of rock, including clays and carbonate. The crater is believed to be an ancient lake-delta system with geologic diversity.
“The Mars community has long coveted the scientific value of sites such as Jezero Crater, and a previous mission contemplated going there, but the challenges with safely landing were considered prohibitive,” said Ken Farley, project scientist for Mars 2020 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “But what was once out of reach is now conceivable, thanks to the 2020 engineering team and advances in Mars entry, descent and landing technologies.”
The long journey to Mars began with this gorgeous launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 30, 2020, courtesy of ULA’s Atlas V rocket. After a near seven-month journey to the Red Planet, Perseverance will be landing today in less than 2 hours!
“With the launch of Perseverance, we begin another historic mission of exploration,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “This amazing explorer’s journey has already required the very best from all of us to get it to launch through these challenging times. Now we can look forward to its incredible science and to bringing samples of Mars home even as we advance human missions to the Red Planet. As a mission, as an agency, and as a country, we will persevere.”
In less than 2 hours, we will touchdown at the Jezero Crater to begin a decade of scientific sampling and new research. In the meantime, here are some facts you may not know about the Red Planet.
The first Mars mission success was the Mariner 4 flyby in 1965.
Mars is known as the Red Planet because iron minerals in the Martian soil oxidize, or rust, causing the soil and atmosphere to look red. Mars has two moons named Phobos and Deimos.
NASA’s robotic explorers have found lots of evidence that Mars was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere, billions of years ago.
NASA’s next-generation Perseverance rover arrives at Mars today, joining two other spacecraft that recently arrived on Mars. On Feb. 9, 2021, the Hope orbiter from the United Arab Emirates arrived and the next day, China’s Tianwen-1 mission arrived with an orbiter, a lander, and a rover.
Party Off Planet 