My name is on it. I still can’t believe one Mars lander had a problem because one part used metric system and another used pounds, feet,etc. How that got through QC is a big mystery to me.
Is this one also using the sky-crane landing method?
Yes, using the same basic method as Curiosity (though with some improvements)
Brian
since Mars is so far away they cannot fix a problem , it is 100% automated .
Thanks for the heads-up, though now I can’t wait the nearly two weeks until the big day! I had forgotten all about it.
Aside from real scientific instruments, Perseverance carries a microphone (actually, I think two). So in addition to searching for signs of life, we will hopefully hear the sounds on the surface of Mars (I guess just the sound of wind, or dust storms, plus the sound of Perseverance itself trundling along or drilling). I’m a little worried though because the last Mars mission that carried a microphone crashed into the surface. Fingers and toes crossed for this one!!
Main website:
It’s also carrying a helicopter, yes a helicopter!
the UAE probe is going to set down today
actually the UAE probe is only an orbit probe.
China put their probe into orbit today and they are going to have a lander
So, today’s the day of the landing! I have to say, it’s been a long time since I was this stoked for (and anxious about) a mission. It would be too cool to have a mini helicopter whirring about Mars, and somehow, hearing the sound of a place gives me a new sense of its reality—I remember listening excitedly when Huygens broadcast the sound of Titan.
And of course, there’s that whole ‘actually looking for life’-bit. Now, I don’t realistically expect anything definitive to come off it, but to me, the commitment to actually looking, bringing the question of life on Mars into scientific focus again, is exciting in itself. And who knows, maybe we’ll see a few tantalizing bits of evidence?
And two years from now, we’ll have the ESA’s ExoMars mission, which among other things will be able to drill down 2m into the Martian soil.
Anyway, I’ll be sure to watch NASA’s lifestream today, keeping my fingers crossed through the 7 minutes of terror.
Also this one has a 20mp camera which is a big upgrade from Curiosity’s 4mp one. We should get some wonderful images. But there should also be high quality video of the landing (complete with audio as has been mentioned) which is going to be incredible to watch.
Fingers crossed all goes well, humanity’s record of landing things on Mars is still not that great.
Likewise looking forward and anxious about it. The good news is that it’s using the same technology as the successful landing of Curiosity. The bad news is that the “skycrane” is really complex stuff – I was actually kind of surprised that the Curiosity landing worked exactly as planned. I’ll definitely be watching live this afternoon.
There will be various streams starting at 2:15 PM EST (1915 UTC)
One of the benefits of working from home… (though even at work I would be at least listening to it)
Brian
they also have 2 microphones so they can pick up any noise .
The real fun doesn’t begin until around 3:30 EST. It’s scheduled to touch down at 3:44 PM EST but due to the communications delay of 11 minutes 22 seconds, we’ll hear about it around 3:55. Hopefully!
Perseverance Landing Day Milestones
Step 1 | Cruise Stage Separation
Step 2 | Atmospheric Entry
Step 3 | Peak Heating
Step 4 | Peak Deceleration
Step 5 | Parachute Deployment
Step 6 | Heat Shield Separation
Step 7 | Radar Lock
Step 8 | Terrain Relative Navigation Solution
Step 9 | Backshell Separation
Step 10 | Powered Descent
Step 11 | Rover Separation/Sky Crane
Step 12 | Touchdown!
Live NASA commentary and video.
Yeah was just about to post that. It’s looking good on my laptop but I had to have a couple of goes at loading it. I suspect that particular site is doing rather good business right now but looks great!
NASA stream from mission control and animations showing the current position.
When the 7 minutes of terror come, AFAIK the animations will show only what is expected. Confirmation of a successful landing will come after.
Landing expected at 3:55 PM, Eastern Time (ET), 12:55 PM, Pacific Time (PT)
FWIW, there’s also a Roku channel.