The Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars in Indian Standard Time (IST)

 

Perseverance Rover Credit:NASA

Mars Perseverance Rover is all set to start the landing sequence and explore Mars from February 18^th. The 1025kg rover which will weigh only 384kg on mars is equipped with scientific instruments to take readings and samples of the Martian surface to answer the question, "Did life exists on Mars at some point in the past". The descent to Martian surface will start on February 18^th and here are the sequence of events that are planned.

The Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars in Indian Standard Time (IST)

For USA it will be 18th but for India it will 19th Morning

 Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The red planet's atmosphere is very thin compared to earth, about 1% in volume, mainly made up of carbon dioxide. Even at this thin atmosphere, the heat shield protecting the rover will experience a temperature of 1300 centigrade during descent. The atmosphere breaking will slow the spacecraft descent to 1000km/h and when  at this speed the parachute is deployed, it will slow down the spacecraft further.

  Atmosphere breaking. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

When the spacecraft is slowed down to 320km/h the parachute is detached, the instruments on the spacecraft guides, using radar and camera to safely land the rover on the Martian surface.

You can watch the events Live from NASA's YouTube channel.

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