The reverberations from the epic touchdown of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars will extend far beyond the science and spaceflight communities, President Joe Biden said.
The commander-in-chief held a video call on Thursday (March 4) with scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages Perseverance's $2.7 billion mission. During the 10-minute chat, Biden congratulated and thanked the team for acing the Feb. 18 landing , stressing that it came at a crucial time for the nation.
Other things to check out:
NASA to Provide Update on Perseverance 'Firsts' Since Mars Landing – NASA's Mars Exploration
Mission team members are participating in a virtual teleconference to discuss milestones achieved so far since the Feb. 18 landing and those to come.
Since NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover touched down at Jezero Crater Feb. 18, mission controllers have made substantial progress as they prepare the rover for the unpaved road ahead. Mission team members from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will discuss mission “firsts” achieved so far and those to come in a media teleconference at 3:30 p.m. EST (12:30 p.m. PST) Friday, March 5.
Once Upon a Time on Mars - The New York Times
A view of Jezero crater on Mars, taken by the Perseverance rover on Feb. 21. Credit... NASA/JPL-Caltech, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
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So humans have sent their progeny across time and 300 million miles of space in search of long-lost relatives, ancient roots of a family tree that might be traced in the Red Planet's soil.
Perseverance and Ingenuity operate on very long leashes: 12 minutes of light-travel time — and signal delay — across the ether from Pasadena, where their creators and tenders wait to see what they have accomplished lately. Like the teenagers you let out the door with the car keys, Perseverance and Ingenuity are no more intelligent and responsible than humans have trained them to be.
Testing Proves Its Worth With Successful Mars Parachute Deployment
Video obtained by camera aboard the Mars 2020 spacecraft during parachute deployment on Feb. 18, 2021.
The giant canopy that helped land Perseverance on Mars was tested here on Earth at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
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Rarely do you get a do-over with a spacecraft after it launches, especially those bound for another planet. You need to do everything possible to get it right the first time.
Three successful sounding rocket missions from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia in 2017 and 2018 to test a supersonic parachute proved their worth with the successful landing of the Perseverance mission on the Red Planet.
Quite a lot has been going on:
CORDIS | European Commission
Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak Drop 'Leave the Door Open' Video
Dangers await humans on Mars as Elon Musk eyes colonization
Musk said in December that he remains "highly confident" that SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026, adding that it's an achievable goal "about six years from now."
"The important thing is that we establish Mars as a self-sustaining civilization," Musk said in a Clubhouse chat this year, according to CNET .
Stirone told CNBC's " The News with Shepard Smith ," that the human desire to go to the red planet stems from culture and science fiction, but Musk's motive is fundamentally driven by a "colonialistic view."
Mars, Pleiades, Jupiter, Saturn and Other Skywatching Highlights for March 2021
In the first week or so of March, you’ll find Mars near the Pleiades star cluster high in the west in the few hours after sunset.
Sky chart showing Mars with the Pleiades, along with bright red stars Aldebaran, in Taurus, and Betelgeuse, in Orion. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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Friday morning, March 5, 2021, the bright star Antares will appear about 8 degrees below the waning gibbous Moon. Antares will rise after the Moon in the southeast at 1:17 a.m. EST, and it will appear about 6 degrees to the lower left of the Moon as morning twilight begins and the Moon reaches its highest in the sky at 5:37 a.m.
Happening on Twitter
Human impacts on Earth's freshwater resources are much higher than anticipated, according to high-precision measure… https://t.co/QQ8cNGLMSg NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Thu Mar 04 16:10:01 +0000 2021
Wow! Watch as @NASA's Super Guppy aircraft landed at Mesa @gatewayairport this afternoon: https://t.co/UZhn5D3qNJ… https://t.co/GV4hcWlHWf abc15 (from Phoenix, AZ) Thu Mar 04 20:54:26 +0000 2021
🥬 Did you know there's a garden on the @Space_Station? During his mission, @Astro_illini has harvested radishes, pl… https://t.co/JJBZGAUn5k NASA (from Pale Blue Dot) Thu Mar 04 22:33:01 +0000 2021
JUST IN: @NorthropGrumman has been selected to provide propulsion support for our 1st-ever launch from another plan… https://t.co/tBnWNWSjtY Dr_ThomasZ (from Washington, DC) Thu Mar 04 21:12:53 +0000 2021
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