NASA's Perseverance rover touched down successfully on Mars, achieving another remarkable engineering milestone. In the first post-landing press conference, NASA and JPL experts shared key details on its exact position and the path ahead.
Perseverance targeted Jezero Crater, a 45-kilometer-wide formation that likely held water 3 to 4 billion years ago. It landed about 1.7 km from the center of the planned zone, in a gently hilly area.
Al Chen, who led the entry, descent, and landing team, displayed a map showing blue zones as safe, yellow as uncertain, and red as high-risk—with just a 4% success chance there.
The rover's advanced software nailed a narrow blue corridor amid red hazards. "We found this parking spot," Chen quipped. It settled nearly upright at just 1.2 degrees tilt.
Priorities include retrieving landing images and audio via low-gain antenna to Mars orbiters.
Deputy project manager Jennifer Trosper noted the Mars Odyssey orbiter's upcoming pass, followed by the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter for more data. Matt Wallace, another deputy, said this could enable NASA to release a landing video as early as Monday.
Initial images from nav cams had lens caps on, explaining their quality. Sharper photos await as the mast deploys with the main camera in coming weeks.
Mobility checks precede driving software upload—about 3-4 days before rolling out.
Next: deploying the Ingenuity helicopter for its inaugural flight. Once a site is selected, Perseverance will lower it, retreat, and teams have 30 days for tests.
Rover meanwhile may sample nearby rocks. Caltech's Ken Farley highlighted promising local geology. Long-term: head ~2 km northwest to an ancient delta rim for prime sample return mission sites, with discoveries en route.
