Below is the first of several color images sent back from Mars by the Perseverance Rover.

This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Feb. 18, 2021.

In this next image, a high-resolution color Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) captures an image of one of the six aluminum wheels aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover.

For this mission, NASA mounted a total of 23 cameras on Perseverance and the landing craft to provide some unprecedented views of the landing.

One of the cameras mounted on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this image of NASA’s Perseverance rover falling thorough the Martian atmosphere with its parachute trailing behind.

Finally, in this high-resolution still image, you can see the rover being lowered to the surface of Mars. This image is part of a video taken by a camera aboard the descent stage as it performed what NASA calls the sky-crane maneuver.

The full hi-definition videos of the landing, taken by all of the various cameras will be released by NASA in the coming days.

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While the video stream will broadcast live, because of the time delay between the Earth and Mars, by the time we start seeing the feed of the beginning of the landing phase, Perseverance will actually already be on the surface of Mars – hopefully.

Unlike missions to Mars of the past, this one will provide a number of incredible videos of various stages of the landing. Taking a cue from SpaceX, NASA has equipped Perseverance and the landing vehicles with a number of High-Definition cameras.

Watch Live Video Stream of Perseverance Rover Landing on Mars:

A little while after the Perseverance Rover has completed its landing, that video footage will be beamed back to earth. NASA will then release the various high-definition videos of the landing for the public to enjoy.

Many of us have already enjoyed the spectacular videos from recent SpaceX launches here on Earth. Similarly, the cameras mounted on the Perseverance lander will give the world an unprecedented view of a spacecraft entering the atmosphere and landing on another planet – Mars.

Perseverance is the “biggest, heaviest, cleanest, and most sophisticated robotic geologist ever launched into space,” according the NASA. The rover will search the Jezero Crater on for signs of ancient life on Mars. It is equipped with a drill that will collect complete core samples which will be returned to Earth by a future mission vehicle.

Live video coverage of the Perseverance Rover landing, including commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) begins at 2:15 p.m. EST on Thursday Feb. 18, 2021.

In addition to the online live streams, the rover landing will also air on the NASA TV Public Channel. Online video sources to watch the Perseverance Rover Mars Landing include: NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, and THETA.TV.

Perseverance is scheduled to touchdown on the surface of Mars at 3:55 p.m. EST.

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You can watch the complete Mars Perseverance Rover mission overview video below, but read on as we describe the key mission events as well.

The Mars Perseverance Rover will use a landing system much like that of the Curiosity rover. As it enters the atmosphere a parachute will help to initially slow the descent vehicle carrying Perseverance to the surface.

Next, the descent vehicle will use it engines to continue decelerating as it nears the surface. Finally, the descent vehicle will lower the Perseverance Rover the final few feet to the Martian surface before cutting its cables and flying away – referred to as a “skycrane maneuver.”

According to NASA, this type of landing system enables the agency to land much larger and heavier rovers without damaging them. Smaller, earlier rovers like Pathfinder essentially bounced the final few meters to the surface surrounded by airbags.

Once on the surface, Perseverance will begin what is planned to be at least a one year mission of exploration. The rover will be searching for signs of past microbial life on Mars. This time the rover has a drill and will collect and store core samples and soil samples.

Perseverance will also test a new technology – a way to extract oxygen from the 96% carbon dioxide Martian atmosphere. This is a very exciting test as it could be a big step forward for a human presence on Mars.

Another exciting moment will occur during the mission when the Perseverance rover unveils the new Mars Helicopter. That’s right, NASA will be testing its first powered flight vehicle on Mars.

We will provide a live stream of the Mars Perseverance Rover landing to allow our readers to watch the Mars landing play out live on February 18, 2021 – be sure to come back to watch that event here.

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With no atmosphere on the moon, finding water in the lunar soil in an area in full sunlight was the last thing anyone expected. But in the announcement NASA said that its, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has in fact confirmed the existence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon.

“Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space,” said Honniball, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Yet somehow we’re seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there.”

SOFIA is essentially an observatory, with a 106-inch diameter telescope, built into a Boeing 747 aircraft. Using this as their platform, astronomers are able to fly high above most of the Earth’s atmosphere for a better view of the universe.

SOFIA is usually focused on deep-sky objects like star clusters and galaxies. But in something of a test, the team tried looking at the moon. They were testing to see if the telescope’s tracking system would be able to lock-on to an object so close.

“It was, in fact, the first time SOFIA has looked at the Moon, and we weren’t even completely sure if we would get reliable data, but questions about the Moon’s water compelled us to try,” said Naseem Rangwala, SOFIA’s project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

“It’s incredible that this discovery came out of what was essentially a test, and now that we know we can do this, we’re planning more flights to do more observations.”

The water was found, using an infrared camera on the SOFIA Telescope, in the Clavius Crater. Clavius is easily seen from the Earth near the southern end of the Moon.

Some earlier discoveries of hydrogen on the lunar surface were not able to distinguish between H2O (water) and OH (hydroxyl). However, the readings by SOFIA were in the unique wavelengths specific to water.

Finding water on the moon is a huge plus for plans to begin building a sustainable colony there by the end of the decade. But before you get too excited, the amount of water is as yet uncertain.

Based on the SOFIA data, current estimates put the amount of water in the lunar soil at about 100 times less than the amount of water in sand of the Sahara Desert. Despite the small amounts, the finding shows that anything is possible, and has positive implications for future exploration.

“This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration,” said NASA’s Paul Hertz.

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In a first for space exploration, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft briefly reached out to ‘TAG’ the surface of asteroid Bennu – grabbing a soil sample that it is bringing back to Earth.

Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) was launched by from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Sept. 8, 2016. Seven years later, it will return to Earth carrying the asteroid sample it obtained this week.

The spacecraft has been orbiting Bennu since its arrival in December of 2018. But today, OSIRIS-Rex extended is specially designed TAGSAM arm – plunging it into the surface of Bennu. It kicked up a lot of dust and managed to collect a 5 billion-year-old soil sample for later analysis.

TAGSAM stands for Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism. As the name suggests, the design is ingeniously simple. As shown in the image and sequence video below, the TAGSAM device plunges into the soil briefly – forcing soil up into the collection area.

“This amazing first for NASA demonstrates how an incredible team from across the country came together and persevered through incredible challenges to expand the boundaries of knowledge,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

“Our industry, academic, and international partners have made it possible to hold a piece of the most ancient solar system in our hands.”

The NASA team is working to determine whether the sample size obtained is large enough. If it is not, they will command another TAG maneuver in January. Otherwise, commands will be sent to the spacecraft, prepping it for storage of the sample.

The current plan is for the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft to exit its orbit and start heading back to Earth in March. For full mission details, visit this NASA.gov link.

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