Nasa’s Mars rover makes historic landing

National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Mars rover Perseverance streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the red planet around 2:30 am on Friday, accomplishing the “the most dangerous” step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars.

Nearly seven months after its takeoff to Mars, Nasa’s Perseverance rove made a historic landing on the red planet, becoming the fifth Nasa rover ever to touch down on Mars after Sojourner — twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity and Curiosity, the US space agency said.

“Touchdown confirmed! Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars,” flight controller Swati Mohan announced.

What’s next? “Perseverance will spend the coming years scouring for signs of ancient microbial life in a historic mission that will bring back samples from Mars to Earth and prepare the way for future human visitors”, Nasa said.

Meanwhile, Nasa scientists describe Perseverance as the most ambitious of nearly 20 US missions to Mars dating back to a 1965 Mariner fly-by.

The landing marks the third visit to Mars in just over a week. Two spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates and China swung into orbit around Mars on successive days last week.

All three missions lifted off in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars, traveling some 300 million miles in nearly seven months.