NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars on the 18th of Feb. at 3:55 PM ET, after its 292.5 million-mile long journey from Earth. According to the mission team, it landed flawlessly on the surface of the red planet. The spacecraft, nicknamed ‘Percy’, sent back its first images of the landscape at its landing area in Jezero Crater.

The rover had been on an almost 300 million-mile long journey from the Earth about 6 months ago. Perseverance really lived up to its name, landing on the surface of Mars during the pandemic after spending so much time in space.

Humanity’s love of Mars is a long one, filled with wonder and the possibilities of life on the surface of a foreign world.

President Biden tweeted about the landing, saying “Congratulations to NASA and everyone whose hard work made the Perseverance’s historic landing possible. Today proved once again that with the power of science and American ingenuity, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.”

Perseverance is a special rover, which will search for signs of ancient life on Mars. It will explore Jezero Crater, which is the sight of an ancient lake that existed about 3.9 million years ago. As well as, have the first helicopter to fly on Mars that will allow for the first ever sound recordings from the surface. The rover will return to Earth with all of its data and sample collections in the 2030’s.

Along for the trip is Ingenuity, the first helicopter that will fly on Mars. Ingenuity will take sound recordings from the surface of Mars.

In conclusion, Perseverance is a huge step in the exploration of Mars. The mission to take as many samples as possible, so humanity can learn more about its mysterious neighbor. This is one of the biggest steps humanity has taken to see if life existed on the red planet. Perseverance is a very important step in our exploration of Mars’s distant past.