Mars rover Perseverance sends incredible new photographs back to Earth

New photographs of Mars have emerged following the arrival of a rover on the red planet last month.

Perseverance landed on the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater on 18 February, following a 7-month journey from Earth that commenced in the summer. It has delivered stunning photographs of its findings.

“I don’t think we’ve had a mission that is going to contribute so much to science and technology.” Steve Jurzcyk, Acting Administrator of NASA told Space.com, highlighting the promising nature of these stunning photographs. Space exploration has led to various advancements in technology. According to NASA, these include trainers, land mine safety measures and wireless headphones.

The first photo that was taken by Perseverance

The sandy terrain of the planet as interpreted by the fact finding mission

A photograph of the rover that is currently exploring Mars

A fog lands over Mars

Liftoff was last July from the NASA Cape Canaveral base in Florida. The structure weighs a tonne and is roughly the size of a car and has a protective shield for zooming through space.

A black and white rendering of the rover

“We’ll be searching for biosignatures - patterns, textures or substances that require the influence of life to form.” Kate Stack Morgan, the deputy project scientist of said.

A snapshot of the rocky terrain found on Mars

Perseverance’s parachute opening during its landing on Mars

The rover is designed to look for signs of microbial life, trying to help decipher if life ever thrived on Mars. It is the first mission of its kind since the 1970s when Nasa pioneered the Viking missions.

Wide shot that was taken by the rover

The robot will gather samples of rock and soil, collect them in suitable equipment and leave them behind for astronauts on a future mission.

The rover will also study Mars’ geology to get a better understanding of the oxygen conditions on the planet for future NASA exploration.

The search for life on Mars has long dominated the space exploration agenda. The efforts to reach the moon in the 20th century enabled us to obtain the technology for various advancements, such as the microwave

Rocks on the red planet

A black and white photo taken by the rover

A picture of the rocky surrondings on the planet