Well, we freaking did it! We landed another rover on Mars. In the most difficult landing site we’ve ever attempted, with the most complex rover humanity has ever assembled. And, in the days to come, we’ll get video and audio of the landing filmed from cameras and microphones onboard the vehicle.
For now, we know that “Percy” the Rover selected a lovely little landing site in a safe, flat spot with only 1.2 degrees of incline. Remarkable really, when you look at the surrounding area. The red zones shown in the photo below are among many of the “bad” places we COULD have landed had NASA not developed the Terrain Relative Navigation System to guide the rover to a safe spot.
One of my favourite photos from the landing is this one taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which captured the 70-foot parachute successfully deployed and slowing the module’s descent speed. Always nice to have someone watching out for you, especially when you’re so far from home!
I learned last night, from my Serbian friend, that “Jezero” means “lake” in Serbian. After a little digging, I found out that Jezero Crater is named after the village of Jezero in Bosnia & Herzegovina. The town’s location near a river-fed lake mirrors that of the conditions of the possible ancient lakebed on Mars.
In the days (or ‘sols’), weeks, months, and maybe even years to come, there will be some amazing footage relayed back to Earth. For now, Percy is making sure all systems are functioning properly before beginning its 1-year planned mission that includes rock and soil sample collection, testing oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere, and looking for bio-signatures of past life. These are among many fundamental steps required before sending humans to the Red Planet.
Going to Mars takes all of us – and I mean all of us. All amassed human knowledge from all time. I’m not embarrassed to say that watching this landing made me incredibly emotional (in the best possible way.) To see so many people working together and employing all of our collective knowledge – and achieving something that once would have been considered impossible – is truly remarkable!
So, if you ever need some inspiration, watch the last 15 minutes of the landing sequence in the video above. It’s bound to put a smile on your face and inspire you to dream big.
