Nasa's Perseverance rover landed on Mars on Thursday to explore the surface of the Red Planet.
I’m safe on Mars. Perseverance will get you anywhere.
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 18, 2021
#CountdownToMars
"We're trying to land the biggest, heaviest and most complex rover we've ever built at the most dangerous landing site we've ever attempted," Al Chen, entry, descent and landing chief, said earlier in the day.
Nasa said the Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover entered the Martian atmosphere and landed safely on the planet's surface.
The risky, autonomously guided landing phase lasted about seven minutes and it took more than 11 minutes for a radio signal to reach Earth confirming success.
"Cheers erupted in mission control at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as controllers confirmed that Nasa's Perseverance rover, with the Ingenuity helicopter attached to its belly, had touched down safely on Mars," the US space agency said.
After landing in the Jezero Crater, the rover has started sending images to Earth, depicted in this video.
It will spend years exploring the Jezero Crater in the hope of finding clues about the possibility of life on Mars.
There is a river delta that scientists believe may have been where water once flowed into the crater.
The rover has features such as a weather station and communications antenna.
It carries the Ingenuity helicopter, which will allow for the first controlled flight on another planet and – if successful – even greater exploration possibilities.
The first attempted flight of the Marscopter is scheduled to take place in about two months.
"Engineers are analysing the data flowing back from the spacecraft," Nasa said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, congratulated the US and Nasa for another successful Mars mission.
Another successful mission has just reached Mars. Congratulations to the United States & @NASA for the successful landing of the Perseverance rover on the Martian surface. The joint scientific exploration will reveal the Red Planet's secrets & give insights into its past & future pic.twitter.com/CCPaKDib80
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 18, 2021
Sarah Al Amiri, UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology and chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency, wished Nasa well in its mission.
Every mission starts with hope & ends in a scientific discovery!
— Sarah Al Amiri (@SarahAmiri1) February 18, 2021
Congratulations to @NASAPersevere’s rover on landing successfully on the red planet. We are eager & excited for the scientific discoveries this mission will bring. Wishing you all the best in this exciting journey
"We are eager and excited for the scientific discoveries this mission will bring," she said.
As part of a global race to explore Mars, the UAE Space Agency launched a probe, Hope, that successfully entered the Martian orbit last week. The Tianwen-1 spacecraft from China also entered the planet's orbit.
Nasa's Mars mission
