NASA's Perseverance rover beamed back postcard-worthy views of Mars
Hi from Mars! Wish you were here!
These new views of Mars captured by NASA's Perseverance wouldn't be out of place on a postcard. Space watchers who have grown accustomed to close-ups of rover tracks and laser-zapped Mars rocks get a much more expansive look at the Red Planet in these new images.
All of the images were captured by the right and left "Navcams" (navigation cameras), which also serve the purpose of helping the autonomous Perseverance find its way around. There's nothing in particular of note in the newly captured images, beyond them being visuals from a planet that no human has ever visited (no big deal).
Perseverance completed its seven-month journey to Mars back in February, with a dramatic descent to the surface on Feb. 18 that made it NASA's fifth rover to arrive there. This one came with an extra-special package in the form of Ingenuity, a remote-operated mini-copter. Perseverance initially spent some time monitoring Ingenuity's spate of flight tests, but the rover's actual mission — what it's doing now — is to hunt for signs of past life and gather samples for future study back on Earth.
NASA intends for Perseverance to stay on top of its primary mission for at least one Martian year, or 687 days. That means it's expected to be running, and beaming back data, until at least Jan. 2023. The rover regularly sends back batches of Mars looks, which NASA's team diligently uploads to an image gallery dedicated to its findings.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
