NASA’s Perseverance rover landed safely on Mars Thursday and immediately sent a couple of pictures back to Earth to show everyone it made it.
Using its navigation cams located on the front and back of its body, Perseverance was able to share two black and white photos after its intense entry, descent, and landing, giving us Earthlings a small glimpse at the Jezero Crater where it will perform its scientific missions.
Now, these photos are not an example of what’s to come from Perseverance. First of all, the dust is still settling after the landing so the images may look a bit grainy. Second, Perseverance has a handful of other cameras, including two that will be able to capture and send back much higher quality images. The rover just needs a little time to get those ready.
These pictures confirm yet another successful spacecraft landing on Mars for NASA, which is now five for five on rover landings.
Now that Perseverance is on Mars, it has to check to make sure everything is working correctly and then can get started exploring the Jezero Crater, analyzing everything around it, and performing some exciting scientific experiments including deploying the Ingenuity helicopter for a flight test.