NASA unveils video captured by Perseverance rover as it landed on Mars

Nasa has unveiled an “amazing” first-of-its-kind video captured by the Mars Perseverance rover as it touched down on the red planet, and released the first audio recorded on the surface of Mars.

The minute-long footage is of the rover recording itself landing on February 18, the first time such video has been captured.

It shows the parachute deployed for landing, and the Martian surface below, with the rover getting slowly closer to landing, and dust on the surface being rapidly disturbed before it finally touches down.

Al Chen, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said: “These videos and these images are the stuff of our dreams, it’s been what we’ve been dreaming about for years.”

Nasa described the footage as “amazing” adding that Perseverance is healthy and continuing with activities as planned for the first few days on Mars’s surface.

The agency also released audio of the first sounds recorded from the surface of Mars.

A microphone on the rover captured a gust of wind on the red planet, and the sounds of Perseverance itself.

Speaking at a press conference, JPL director Michael Watkins said: “This is the first time we’ve been able to actually capture an event like the landing of a spacecraft on Mars.

“And these are pretty cool videos, and we will learn something, by looking at the performance of the vehicle in these videos, but a lot of it is also to bring you along on our journey, our touchdown to Mars and of course our surface mission as well.

“And these are really amazing videos.”

[happyfpv]

Should have let Steven Spielberg direct that footage.

[JJ-]

Space maybe the final frontier but its made in a hollywood basement