Rover lands on Mars: Nasa

WASHINGTON: NASA said Thursday that the Perseverance rover has touched down on the surface of Mars after successfully overcoming a risky landing phase known as the “seven minutes of terror.”

“Touchdown confirmed,” said operations lead Swati Mohan at around 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT) as mission control at NASA´s Jet Propulsion Laboratory headquarters erupted in cheers. The autonomously-guided procedure was completed more than 11 minutes earlier, which is how long it takes for radio signals to return to Earth.

“WOW!!” tweeted NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurburchen as he posted the Perseverance´s first black and white image from the Jezero Crater in Mars´ northern hemisphere.

The rover is only the fifth ever to set its wheels down on Mars. The feat was first accomplished in 1997 and all so far have been American.Perseverance now embarks on a multi-year mission to search for the bio signatures of microbes that might have existed there billions of years ago, when conditions were warmer and wetter than they are today.Starting from summer, it will attempt to collect 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis.