Thursday, February 18, 2021

PERSEVERANCE IS ON MARS !!!

 


Here it is one of the first pictures taken by Perseverance after it landed safely on Mars!!! talk about excitement and anticipation. As they stated at JPL it is alive and well on the red planet. Yes another robot on our celestial neighbor.

I have had the great privilege of being alive for most of the space program. I was alive and saw the first man land on the moon. I was watching television when the first American rover, Sojourner landed on Mars. However as I was watching this landing live I still got excited, anxious and a lot nervous.

I listened as they ran off the speed and altitude of the rover over Mars. I thought it was fascinating when they stated that because all that was going on the rover would not send a binary stream of data but a heart beat tone to indicate it was doing well. When they said it had landed I was overjoyed and relieved. In such technical feat many things can go wrong. In order for it to be successful many more things have to go right.










It was so tense as it slowed its speed and the surface was looming ever closer. The descent was a few minutes but it seemed a lot longer. Here is a picture of the process and below is a small video of these minutes of terror!!





So here we are in an age that has accomplished its first steps in the cosmos. Our robots are our first emissaries in this vastness. It is to wonder what we will find. We can go into that future because of the hardiness and stamina of our robot friends. Here is a review of those who have preceded Perseverance.

 

Here is Sojourner!!



Here is Spirit who looked like his brother Opportunity!!




Here is Curiosity working to get us more data!!

Rest my good and loyal robots and best of luck to Perseverance!!!!!