Perseverance Rover at Halfway Point
Caption:
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover reached its halfway point to Jezero Crater on Oct. 27, 2020 at 1:40 p.m. PDT (4:40 EDT), having completed as many miles — 146.3 million miles (235.4 million kilometers) — as it has yet to travel on its journey to Mars. In straight-line distance, Earth is 26.6 million miles (42.7 million kilometers) behind Perseverance, and Mars is 17.9 million miles (28.8 million kilometers) in front. This illustration depicts the
curved trajectory
of the spacecraft (seen in inset:
cruise stage
,
descent stage
,
back shell
, and
heat shield
, plus the
rover
and
Mars Helicopter
), noting the positions of Earth and Mars relative to each other both at the time of launch and the time of landing. The trajectory's curvature is a result of the Sun's gravitational influence on the spacecraft.
Cataloging Keywords:
| Name |
Value |
Additional Values |
| Target |
Mars |
|
| System |
|
|
| Target Type |
Planet |
|
| Mission |
Mars 2020 |
|
| Instrument Host |
Perseverance |
|
| Host Type |
Rover |
|
| Instrument |
|
|
| Detector |
|
|
| Extra Keywords |
Color, Crater |
| Acquisition Date |
|
| Release Date |
2020-10-27 |
| Date in Caption |
2020-10-27 |
|
| Image Credit |
NASA/JPL-Caltech |
| Source |
photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24232 |
| Identifier |
PIA24232 |
