NASA's Perseverance Rover Sends Back First Color Images From Mars Surface
NASA releases the first color images from the Perseverance rover's hazard cameras and a stunning overhead view captured during the sky crane descent. The rover successfully touches down inside Jezero Crater with unprecedented landing precision.
NASA shares the first color images from the Perseverance rover as it begins Sol 1 of its Mars 2020 mission. The images, revealed during a press conference at JPL, provide detailed glimpses of the immediate Martian surface around the landing site in Jezero Crater. These early pictures come from the rover's hazard avoidance cameras, which operate without their protective dust covers to capture the surrounding terrain.
A standout image from the release shows Perseverance suspended just two meters above the ground by tether cables from its descent stage sky crane. This breathtaking shot is a still frame pulled from a high-definition video recorded during the Entry, Descent, and Landing sequence. NASA plans to release the full video of this complex landing maneuver on February 22.
Perseverance touches down at the western edge of the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater with remarkable accuracy. Thanks to automated terrain detection and hazard avoidance technology, engineers pinpoint the rover's exact location almost immediately after landing, a process that historically takes several days. The rover lands well within its targeted 4.8-mile-wide ellipse, marking a highly precise start to its scientific mission.