Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

NASA’s Mars orbiter captures image of Perseverance’s parachute phase

By

Spectacular footage of NASA’s Perseverance rover safely touching down on the surface of Mars last week showed close-up pictures of not only the rover but also the descent stage that lowered it.

Cameras fixed to both vehicles captured the dramatic landing from multiple angles and in astonishing clarity, providing space fans with the highest-quality footage from NASA’s five rover landings to date.

Recommended Videos

But as the spacecraft carrying Perseverance descended toward the Martian surface, the entire event was being tracked by another spacecraft more than 400 miles away.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched from Earth in 2005 before reaching the red planet the following year.

As the Perseverance spacecraft floated toward the planet with an open parachute (yes, the one that contained a hidden message), the orbiter captured a remarkable image that shows the scale of the red planet against the car-sized rover.

The orbiter used its HiRISE camera to grab the image, which NASA posted on Twitter this week.

How’s THAT for fancy shooting? During the parachute phase of @NASAPersevere’s descent to the surface, the powerful HiRISE camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter actually captured the moment mid-flight: https://t.co/Y6Swwv8eWs #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/AaicriEfSE

— NASA Mars (@NASAMars) February 23, 2021

“The descent stage holding NASA’s Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, its parachute trailing behind, in this image taken on February 18, 2021, by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,” the space agency explained in notes on its website. “The ancient river delta, which is the target of the Perseverance mission, can be seen entering Jezero Crater from the left.”

NASA said HiRISE was about 435 miles (700 km) from Perseverance and traveling at about 6,750 mph (3 km per second) when the image was taken.

“The extreme distance and high speeds of the two spacecraft were challenging conditions that required precise timing and for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to both pitch upward and roll hard to the left so that Perseverance was viewable by HiRISE at just the right moment,” the space agency added.

The orbiter’s mission is led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the same unit that’s overseeing the Perseverance mission. The University of Arizona provided, and operates, the HiRISE camera.

Perseverance is currently undergoing checks to ensure it’s in full working order following its long trip from Earth and harrowing landing procedure. Once it gets the green light, the rover will begin searching the Jezero Crater for signs of ancient life, among other tasks. It’s already sent back some awesome high-quality images of its new home — you can check them out here and here.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Perseverance rover catches footage of a dust devil on Mars
mars 2020 perseverance rover

Many of the weather events we experience here on Earth can be found on other planets too, and that includes whirlwinds. Several missions have observed small whirlwinds called dust devils on Mars, and the Perseverance rover recently captured footage of one such dust devil in action as it rolled across the martian surface.

The footage was captured by one of Perseverance's black-and-white navigation cameras, called Navcams, and shows a dust devil moving at a speed of around 12 mph across a regions known as the Thorofare Ridge. You can clearly see the dust devil as a white column moving across the top of the ridge in an animation posted by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the rover.

Read more
NASA’s Mars rover uses its self-driving smarts to navigate toughest route
A composite image showing Perseverance’s path through a dense section of boulders.

A composite image, annotated at JPL using visualization software, showing Perseverance’s path through a dense section of boulders. The pale blue line indicates the course of the center of the front wheel hubs, while darker blue lines show the paths of the rover’s six wheels. NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Mars rover, Perseverance, has used its self-driving smarts to successfully navigate its most challenging route since arriving on the planet two-and-a-half years ago. Even better, its advanced technology meant it took just a third of the time that it would’ve taken other NASA Mars rovers.

Read more
NASA’s Perseverance rover shows off its latest Mars find
mars 2020 perseverance rover

NASA’s Perseverance rover is continuing to explore Mars’ Jezero Crater in its search for evidence of ancient microbial life on the distant planet.

The vehicle -- NASA’s most technologically advanced rover to date -- arrived on the red planet in February 2021 in a breathtaking landing captured by high-definition cameras.

Read more