NASA Reveals Video of Perseverance’s Landing on Mars

Though the mission is in its early days, NASA’s latest venture to Mars has been a successful one so far. After presenting photos of Perseverance’s safe descent to the surface last week, the organization has unveiled footage of the crucial moments of the landing: the moments when the rover touched down. Here is the video of Perseverance’s landing on Mars.

“For those who wonder how you land on Mars – or why it is so difficult – or how cool it would be to do so – you need look no further,” acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a statement. “Perseverance is just getting started, and already has provided some of the most iconic visuals in space exploration history. It reinforces the remarkable level of engineering and precision that is required to build and fly a vehicle to the Red Planet.”

The rover was also able to capture the first audio recording of sounds from Mars. Although the microphone didn’t pick up anything usable during the drop, a 60-second recording that the rover sent on February 20th included a few audible seconds of a breeze.

NASA live-streamed a briefing in which executives and scientists reviewed the video and images that Perseverance has captured in its first few days in the Jezero Crater. NASA has collected more than 30GB of data from the rover so far, including more than 23,000 images from the descent. You’ll be able to download some of the raw images from Perseverance from NASA’s website.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has posted an interactive 360-degree view of the Perseverance landing site on Mars in 4K resolution. It’s the latest jaw-dropping imagery to return from the mission, including that incredible video of the rover plunging through the Martian atmosphere before being “skycraned” down to the surface of the red planet.

The 60-second video was captured by Perseverance’s color Navcams perched atop a sensing mast above the rover. The 360-degree scene can be navigated in a browser or the YouTube app on your phone or 4K smart television. The images were captured on February 20th, two days after the Perseverance landed in the Jezero Crater.

Perseverance has a total of 23 cameras, the most of any Mars rover to date: 16 for engineering and science and another seven that recorded those dramatic images of entry, descent, and landing.