The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Mars rover Perseverance landed on the red planet at around 02:30 am on Friday. This mission is extremely crucial to find whether life ever existed on the planet or not.
Almost seven months after its takeoff to Mars, Perseverance is the fifth NASA rover to touch the Martian surface after Sojourner-twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity and Curiosity.
NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, which is said to be the biggest and the most advanced rover ever sent by Nasa, sent two images from space showing the surface of Mars, just after landing at the Jerezo crater on the planet.
Once the rover's touchdown on the red planet was confirmed, controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion in California's Pasadena cheered, exchanged fist bumps and high-fives to signal victory.
Perserverance's Mars mission is worth nearly $3 billion. The car-sized, plutonium-powered vehicle landed at the Jerezo crater, reaching NASA's smallest target yet-a 5-by-4 mile strip on an ancient river delta full of pits, cliffs and rocks. If live ever existed and flourished on Mars, it would have been 3 to 4 billion years ago when water was still there on the planet, according to scientists.
The landing also marks third visit to Mars in just a week. Prior to this, China and United Arab Emirates (UAE) swung into the orbit around Mars last week. All these missions took off in July to take advantage of close alignment of Earth and Mars.
With AP inputs; by Mehak Agarwal
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