The University of Arizona-operated High Resolution Imaging Experiment camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured the Feb. 18 descent of NASA s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, the latest rover to touch down on the Red Planet. In the image above, Perseverance s landing capsule can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, with its parachute trailing behind.
Since entering the orbit of Mars in March of 2006, the HiRISE camera, provided and operated by the UArizona Lunar Planetary Laboratory, has photographed the surface of the Red Planet in unprecedented detail. The camera also provided data that helped Perseverance navigate to its designated landing site.
NASA s Mars 2020 mission is the first to land not just a surface vehicle, but also an air-going vehicle in the form of a drone strapped to the underside of the rover.