Entry, Descent, Landing: NASA Mars Rover Prepares For 7-Minute Of Terror

Launched in July 2020, NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance is just a day away from landing on the Red Planet surface. Perseverance is the latest mission commissioned to assess how habitable Mars was in the ancient past. Those who are interested can watch it online. The US-based space agency says that spacecraft is healthy and on target to touch down in Jezero Crater on February 18 at around 3:55 PM EST (February 19 at 2:25 AM IST). Also Read – Google Celebrates NASA Rover Landing On Mars With Virtual Fireworks

Here are the Highlights: Also Read – Historic! NASA Mars Rover Perseverance Successfully Lands on The Red Planet, Sends First Image

9.00 pm: What makes Jezero Crater’s terrain – deeply etched by long-vanished flows of liquid water – so tantalizing to scientists also makes it especially treacherous as a landing site. Also Read – Meet Dr Swati Mohan, Indian-origin Scientist Who is in Charge of NASA Perseverance Rover

8.00 pm: NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will search for signs of ancient microbial life, which will advance NASA’s quest to explore the past habitability of Mars.

7.30 pm: Key timings for Perseverance’s landing

7.00 pm: This mission has been a decade in the making and as such, various officials from NASA expressed a lot of excitement and trepidation in a press conference Wednesday (Feb. 17).

6.10 pm: The commentary has already begun and the landing process will start at 3:38 PM EST tomorrow, (2:08 AM IST, February 19).

6.05 pm: Those interested can watch the drama of Perseverance’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) – the riskiest portion of the rover’s mission that some engineers call the “seven minutes of terror” – live on NASA TV or NASA YouTube Channel.

6.00 pm: The US-based space agency says that spacecraft is healthy and on target to touch down in Jezero Crater on February 18 at around 3:55 PM EST (February 19 at 2:25 AM IST).