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NASA s Mars helicopter Ingenuity touches down on Red Planet
NASA s Mars helicopter Ingenuity has been dropped on the surface of the Red Planet ahead of its historic first flight scheduled for April 11. Ingenuity flew to Mars while being attached to the belly of NASA s Perseverance rover, which made a February 18 touch down on the Red Planet. #MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover s belly to the surface of Mars today, NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, tweeted late on Saturday. Next milestone? Survive the night.
It then backed up an additional 2.5 metres.
The process of searching for life - which involves careful management by hundreds of world leading scientists - could take until the 2030s.
Perseverance will spend at least two years drilling into rocks in a mission which has to be handled with utmost care.
Anais Zarifian, one of Perseverance rover’s mobility engineers, said: “When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of the first drive.
NASA rover takes first drive on Mars (Image: Getty Images)
NASA celebrates rover touch-down on Mars (Image: Getty Images)
President Joe Biden on Thursday congratulated the NASA team responsible for last month s successful landing of an six-wheeled rover on Mars and for giving the country a dose of confidence at a moment when the nation s reputation as a scientific leader has been tattered by the coronavirus pandemic. Biden speaking in video conference call with the leadership of space agency s jet propulsion laboratory team expressed awe over the Feb. 18 landing of Perseverance. Perseverance, the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to successfully land on Mars, travelling some 300 million miles in nearly seven months, as part of an ongoing quest to study whether there was once life on the planet.
It s amazing : Biden lavishes praise on Swati Mohan, and Indian Americans
It s amazing. Indian of descent Americans are taking over this country, US President Biden said
Friday March 5, 2021 10:18 AM, Arul Louis, IANS
New York: Indian-Americans are taking over the US, President Joe Biden said while congratulating Swati Mohan, the NASA engineer, who guided the
Mars rover Perseverance to a soft landing on the Red Planet. It s amazing. Indian of descent Americans are taking over this country. You, my Vice President, my speechwriter Vinay. But I tell you what, thanks. You guys are incredible, he said during a virtual meeting to congratulate Mohan and others on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team that landed the Perseverance on Mars.
Indian-American scientist Swati Mohan. Twitter/@DrSwatiMohan
Path to NASA started way back watching Star Trek as a child, Indian-American Swati Mohan tells Biden Indian-Americans are taking over the country, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, referring to the high number of people from the community getting a place in his administration.
“Indian-of-descent Americans (sic) are taking over the country. You (Swati Mohan), my Vice President (Kamala Harris), my speech writer (Vinay Reddy),” Mr. Biden said in a virtual interaction with NASA scientists who were involved in the historic landing of Perseverance landing at Mars.
Indian-American scientist Swati Mohan leads the guidance, navigation, and control operations of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission. She played a pivotal role in landing the US space agency’s historic Perseverance rover on the Martian surface on February 18.