NASA’s Rover Lands on Mars, Sends Back First Images

KOMPAS.com – The NASA Perseverance rover Thursday safely landed on Mars and sent a set of color images of the red planet back to the engineers and scientists at mission control in Southern California.

The exploration program website said on Friday, February 19 that the high-resolution color photos came less than a day after touching down. The hazard cameras showed on the front and rear of the vehicle.

A health report also indicated that everything seemed to be working as it should.

Also read: Indonesia Readies 18 Million Covid-19 Vaccines for Second Mass Vaccination

Perseverance was able to capture a video of its descent. The footage is still in the process of being sent to Earth via relays over other spacecraft, but a still from the video was already received on Friday.

'Awestruck'

Scientists and engineers working on the mission reacted with excitement when they saw the first images of Mars sent by the Perseverance rover.

"This is something that we've never seen before,'' flight system engineer Aaron Stehura told reporters.

Also read: Indonesia to Get 140 Million Doses of Sinovac Covid-19 Bulk Vaccine Soon

"It was stunning, and the team was awestruck. There's just a feeling of victory that we were able to capture these and share it with the world," he said.