PIA24313: Entering the Martian Atmosphere with the Perseverance Rover (Illustration)


Entering the Martian Atmosphere with the Perseverance Rover (Illustration)

Caption:

With its heat shield facing the planet, NASA's Perseverance rover begins its descent through the Martian atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.

Entry, Descent, and Landing , or "EDL," begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere, traveling nearly 12,500 mph (20,000 kph).

The aeroshell, which encloses the rover and descent stage, makes the trip to the surface on its own. The vehicle fires small thrusters on the backshell to reorient itself and make sure the heat shield is facing forward as it plunges into the atmosphere.

Background Info:

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and will manage operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 .

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 Atmosphere, Color
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2020-12-16
Date in Caption 2021-02-18
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24313
Identifier PIA24313