Closer to Red Planet: Watch how Perseverance rover landed on Mars

The US space agency NASA on Monday released the first video of the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars.The video clip, lasting three minutes and 25 seconds, showed the deployment of the parachute and the rover’s touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet.

“These are really amazing videos,” said Michael Watkins, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This is the first time we’ve ever been able to capture an event like the landing on Mars.”

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said the video of Perseverance’s descent is “the closest you can get to landing on Mars without putting on a pressure suit.”

Jessica Samuels, Perseverance’s surface mission manager, said the rover was operating as expected so far.

“I am happy to report that Perseverance is healthy and is continuing with activities as we have been planning them,” Samuels said.

She said the team was preparing for a flight by the rover’s small helicopter.

“The team is still evaluating,” she said. “We have not locked in a site yet.”

Perseverance was launched on July 30, 2020 and landed on the surface of Mars on Thursday.