Perseverance Rover to Land on Mars Today (18 Feb 2021)

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Nasa’s Perseverance rover is on its way to “seven minutes of terror” that will see it hurtle down towards the surface of Mars with the aim of landing gracefully on the ground.

If it lands, the rover – and a helicopter named Ingenuity that will undertake the first ever flight on another planet – will get to work exploring Mars in search of clues about its ancient past. That will include attempting to understand whether the planet was ever habitable, and scouring for clues of past life on its surface.

But if Perseverance’s landing fails, it will join a number of missions that have been unable to successfully touch down on the Martian surface, foiled by its lack of atmosphere and inhospitable conditions.

All of that will be decided during a perilous entry, descent and landing process that will see it hurtle through the atmosphere, slow down to a safe speed, and then use a highly-advanced “Terrain Relative Navigation” system that will allow it to adjust where it lands to ensure it can safely drop down onto the surface.

That is scheduled to happen around 3.55pm eastern time, or 8.55pm in the UK, though mission controllers will be giving detailed and live updates before and after Perseverance arrives at its new home.

How the ‘seven minutes of terror’ will play out

With less than three hours to go until the action begins, here’s a reminder of how it should play out.

3:38pm EST (8:38pm GMT): The spacecraft transporting Perseverance will separate from its entry capsule.

3:48pm EST: The craft is expected to hit the top of the Martian atmosphere, travelling at approximately 12,100 mph.

3:52 pm EST: The parachute will attempt to slow its supersonic descent. The exact deployment time will be managed by Range Trigger technology.

3:54 pm EST: Once the parachute has been deployed the heat shield will briefly detach, followed by the back shell that is attached to the parachute.

3:55 pm EST: Finally, the rover will use retrorockets to slow its descent and hit the landing site.

Nah lol, I meant humanity.

According to the Martian Interpretation Ssociety (MIS), the latest information gathered is that the dark side of Mars is a hive of activity where factories making moon dust and space rocks are to be found. Rumours have it that red haired people once came from Mars to the Earth in order to conquor it, but were unsuccessful despite their attempts to infultrate the Viking race.
However despite their past efforts, their descendants still dwell amongst us and one can tell them by their little antenna sticking out below the back of their heads and the way they eat their sandwiches.
The North American Sandwich Association said that some of their red haired employees do have an unusual appetite for eating their sandwiches quickly and leaving crumbs.

But further information from MIS is that a new wave of Martians have landed here on earth quite recently and have been learning new ways of communication.


https://youtu.be/KTc3PsW5ghQ

Nah lol, I meant humanity.