Mars Rover Perseverance Landing... and continuing...

[Umbran]

This is amazing! Today I think they are going to try and FLY!!!!

Today? No.

"For starters, the rover's handlers will spend the next few Martian days, or sols, getting Perseverance up to speed in its new digs. (A sol lasts 24 hours and 40 minutes, just slightly longer than an Earth day.) The team will stabilize the six-wheeled robot's power, thermal and communications systems so that new, surface-tailored flight software can be uploaded from Earth, Mars 2020 deputy project manager Jennifer Trosper said during a post-landing news conference yesterday.

As this "critical infrastructure" work is proceeding, "we're also doing other health checks of other instruments," said Trosper, who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "Over the course of the three sols or four sols of these early activities, we'll get all the instrument health checks done; we'll charge the rover battery.

Perseverance's head-like, instrument-laden mast will also be deployed in these first few sols, allowing great new imagery to be captured. " - space.com

The first color images of the area are supposed to be taken on Sol 3. New software upload on Sol 4. Then another 4 days of getting that software online and functioning. Then the rover has to drive to an area suitable for an airfield drop Ingenuity and drive to safe distance - that's another 10 Sols or so. First flight is a few weeks off yet. Helicopter flights will happen during the spring, and major science work gets rolling in the summer. (Earth spring and summer, I mean.

 

[Ulfgeir]

Missed the landing. Cool stuff though. Hope they can perform incredible science. Or should that be credible science?

 

[darjr]

Thanks for the update @Umbran

I heard it in speculation talk during the nasa feed. Might have been everyday astronauts feed.

 

[trappedslider]

Well, i hope they find Mark Watney

 

[Umbran]

Here's a cool picture. It is taken from the "rocket pack" in the sky crane maneuver, as the rover is being lowered down onto the surface, when the rover is just a few feet off the ground.

This is one frame, but the original is a movie, with sound. It will take some time for that all to come to us, though, due to low bandwidth of the connection.

Spoiler: super cool shot from above

 

[trappedslider]

 

[Umbran]

As a follow-up, here's official NASA video of the landing, from cameras on board...

 

[pming]

Hiya!

You know why I love space and think it should be the number 1 priority for spending/effort?
..
Because when you ask people about stuff like these rovers and satellites exploring Luna or Mars or whatever...their answer is almost universally "Wow! That's cool that we have an actual machine on another planet!"
..
The cool thing isn't that there is a machine on the planet. The cool part is that, no matter who the person is, where they live, what their religion is, what their political background is, or their societal mindset...they almost all say... "we". It's not "they". It's "we", as in they feel like they are a part of it, along with every other human on the planet.
..
I can't think of a single thing on Earth where people's initial reaction is to think of everyone else on earth, Humans, all of us, as ONE PEOPLE.
..
That's why I love it idea of space travel and space efforts!

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Umbran]

Oh, and we should note: The first sounds ever recorded from the surface of Mars!

Mars Audio Recordings - NASA

Gallery of audio clips captured by the Mars Perseverance rover.

mars.nasa.gov

 

[Retreater]

I'm not trying to troll or criticize anyone's interest, but I'm left wondering what the point of this is. Haven't we had rovers on Mars for the past 40 years (or longer)?