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NASA Releases First-Of-Its-Kind Video And Imagery From Mars

NASA Releases First-Of-Its-Kind Video And Imagery From Mars

The Perseverance Rover recently landed on the 'Red Planet'

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

NASA has released new, first-of-its-kind footage from the Perseverance Rover on Mars. Watch it in the clip below:

The space agency's six-wheeled robot recently completed its 470,000,000km journey from Earth, seven months after embarking on its groundbreaking trip.

And now it has shared incredible footage showing the moment the rover landed on the Red Planet.

This captures the portion of the trip that is sometimes referred to as 'seven minutes of terror' - not only because of the intricate sequence involved, but also because radio signals take so long to reach Earth that, by the time they've reached us, the landing has already happened.

NASA said: "Perseverance is tasked with searching for tell-tale signs that microbial life may have lived on Mars billions of years ago.

"It will collect rock core samples in metal tubes, and future missions would return these samples to Earth for deeper study."

NASA

The Perseverance landed at the Jezero Crater, where scientists believe they might find the evidence they're after.

Ken Williford, Deputy Project Scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said: "We expect the best places to look for biosignatures would be in Jezero's lakebed or in shoreline sediments that could be encrusted with carbonate minerals, which are especially good at preserving certain kinds of fossilised life on Earth.

"But as we search for evidence of ancient microbes on an ancient alien world, it's important to keep an open mind."

It didn't take long for Perseverance to share its very first images from Mars.

Moments after landing, the robot sent back a couple of black and white snaps showing the planet's rocky surface.

Posting the photos to the rover's official Twitter, account, NASA said: "Hello, world. My first look at my forever home. #CountdownToMars.

"And another look behind me. Welcome to Jezero Crater."

Another tweet read: "I love rocks. Look at these right next to my wheel. Are they volcanic or sedimentary? What story do they tell? Can't wait to find out."

Speaking about the incredible feat, Adam Steltzner, the rover's chief engineer, said it was a relief to see all of the team's hard work pay off.

He said: "The team is overwhelmed with excitement and joy to have successfully landed another rover on the surface of Mars.

"When we do such investments, we do them for humanity, and we do them as a gesture of our humanity."

Featured Image Credit: NASA

Topics: Science, World News, US News, mars, Nasa, space