NASA successfully landed its fifth robotic rover, Perseverance, on the surface of Mars on Thursday after its six-month journey from Earth.
“Touchdown confirmed. Perseverance is safely on the surface of Mars,” said Swati Mohan, an engineer on the Perseverance team.
The rover is the most technologically advanced robot NASA has ever sent to Mars. The agency’s goal is to use it to explore the surface in nearly two years.
NASA spent about $2.4 billion to build and launch the Perseverance mission, with another $300 million in costs expected for landing and operating the rover on the Mars surface.
Perseverance also has a small helicopter named Ingenuity that NASA would use to try the first flight on another planet.
The rover’s weight is about 1one ton. It is 10 feet long, nine feet wide and seven feet tall. The camera is fixed in a robotic arm that reaches about seven feet. It also has a chemical analyser and a rock drill.
Perseverance traveled 293 million miles to reach Mars over the course of more than six months after it was launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on July 30.
Meanwhile, China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft has also entered into the orbit and might land on the surface later this year.
