NASA Invites Public to Share Thrill of Mars Perseverance Rover Landing
Mark your calendars for live landing commentary, news briefings, livestreamed Q&As, virtual watch parties, student activities, and more.
NASA is inviting the public to take part in virtual activities and events as the agency’sMars 2020 Perseverance rovernearsentry, descent, and landingon the Red Planet, with touchdown scheduled for approximately 3:55 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 18.Live coverage and landing commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will begin at 2:15 p.m. EST on theNASA TV Public Channeland the agency’swebsite, as well as theNASA App,YouTube,Twitter,Facebook,LinkedIn,Twitch,Daily Motion, andTHETA.TV.Get the Latest JPL NewsSUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTERAmong the many firsts with this mission is the agency’s first-everSpanish-language showfor a planetary landing. On Thursday, Feb. 18, at 2:30 p.m., NASA will air “Juntos perseveramos,” a show that will give viewers an overview of the mission to Mars and highlight the role Hispanic NASA professionals have had in its success.During landing, the rover will plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph (about 20,000 kph). A parachute and powered descent will slow the rover down to about 2 mph (3 kph). During what is known as the sky crane maneuver, the descent stage will lower the rover on three cables to land softly on six wheels atJezero Crater.Perseverance also is carrying a technology experiment – theIngenuity Mars Helicopter– that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.“If there’s one thing we know, it’s that landing on Mars is never easy,” said NASA Associate Administrator for Communications Marc Etkind. “But as NASA’s fifth Mars rover, Perseverance has an extraordinary engineering pedigree and mission team. We are excited to invite the entire world to share this exciting event with us!”NASA is offering many ways for the public to participate and stay up to date on landing information, mission highlights, and interaction opportunities.Watch and Participate VirtuallyConnect with like-minded space enthusiasts, receive a NASA Social badge, ask questions, and take part in other virtual activities by signing up for thePerseverance Rover Virtual NASA Social event.NASA also will provide avirtual guest experiencefor members of the public during landing, with notifications about mission updates, curated mission resources, and a virtual passport stamp available after landing.Stay connected and let people know you’re following the mission on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Join the conversation, ask questions, and get answers online by using #CountdownToMars.Follow and tag these accounts:Twitter:@NASA,@NASAPersevere,@NASAMarsFacebook:NASA,NASAPersevereInstagram:NASAAt 7 p.m. EST Tuesday, Feb. 16, a NASA Social live show previewing landing day will stream live via the JPLYouTube,Facebook, andTwitteraccounts.You also can follow every step of entry, descent, and landing withthis visualization, and get a preview of all the excitement with anew video.All landings on Mars are difficult, but NASA's Perseverance rover is attempting to touch down in the most challenging terrain on Mars ever targeted. The intense entry, descent, and landing phase, known as EDL, begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere. Engineers have referred to the time it takes to land on Mars as the "seven minutes of terror."Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechOpportunities for Students, Teachers, EducatorsDesign, build, and land your own spacecraft – just like NASA scientists and engineers do. Join NASA’sMission to Mars Student Challenge, where classrooms, informal education groups, families, and individuals will be able to participate in landing week question-and-answer sessions with mission experts and submit student questions and work that could be featured during NASA broadcasts leading up to and on landing day.AMars 2020 STEM toolkitalso is available, with stories on the students who named Perseverance and Ingenuity, opportunities to code your own Mars exploration games, and more.Join scientists from NASA and JPL at abriefing of the National AcademiesSpace Studies Board and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 11:30 a.m. EST to hear more about Perseverance’s journey to Mars’ Jezero Crater, NASA’sMars Sample Return, and the challenges the team has overcome. Participants include:Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for scienceLori Glaze, director of NASA’s Planetary Science DivisionBobby Braun, Mars Sample Return program manager at JPLMatt Wallace, deputy project manager, Mars 2020 at JPLKatie Stack Morgan, Mars 2020 deputy project scientist at JPLInteractive ExperiencesYou also can try out a virtual photo booth that allows you to pose next to the Perseverance rover, listen to the differences between sounds on Mars and Earth, and check out other interactive experiences on the mission’swebsite.Send Your Name to Mars, Again!Perseverance is carrying three dime-size chips with 11 million names submitted by people all over the world. Anyone who missed the chance to send their name on Perseverance can sign up to send their name on a future Mars mission at:https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020Lighting Towns Red Around the WorldTo celebrate Perseverance’s Red Planet landing, the Empire State Building in New York will light its tower red on Tuesday, Feb. 16, starting at sunset until 2 a.m. EST the following morning. In addition, the Los Angeles International Airport gateway pylons will glow red from sundown on Wednesday, Feb. 17, through sunrise Friday, Feb. 19. Other sites in the United States recognizing the upcoming landing include select buildings along the Chicago skyline, such as the Adler Planetarium. NASA invites cities around the country and world to participate in “lighting the town red.”Additional ResourcesPress kits for thePerseverance rover landingand theIngenuity Mars Helicopterare available and feature deeper dives into the mission and science, as well as links to image and video resources.A Perseverancelanding toolkitprovides additional details about all the activities planned for landing week, as well as additional links for learning more about the rover and helicopter.NASA Televised Event ScheduleIn addition to social media coverage, NASA TV will air a number of events leading up to, including, and following the landing.Members of the public may ask questions on social media during the events using #CountdownToMars.The following events currently are scheduled to air live (all times Eastern). Please check theNASA TV schedulefor the latest updates:Tuesday, Feb. 161 p.m. – News conference: Mission engineering and technology overview3:30 p.m. – News conference: Mission science overviewWednesday, Feb. 171 p.m. – News conference: Mission landing update3 p.m. – News conference: Searching for Ancient Life at Mars and in Samples Returned to EarthThursday, Feb. 182:15 p.m. – Live landing Broadcast on the NASA TVPublic Channeland online.In addition, an uninterrupted clean feed of cameras from inside JPL Mission Control, with mission audio only, will be available starting at 2 p.m. on the NASA TVMedia Channeland atJPL’s Raw YouTubechannel.A 360-degree livestream of the Mars landing from inside mission control, including landing commentary, will be available at theJPL’s main YouTubechannel.2:30 p.m. – “Juntos perseveramos,” the Spanish-language live landing commentary show, will air onNASA en Español’s YouTubechannel.Approximately 3:55 p.m. – Expected Perseverance touchdown on MarsNo earlier than 5:30 p.m. – Postlanding news conferenceFriday, Feb. 191 p.m. – News conference: Mission status updateMonday, Feb. 222 p.m. – News conference: Mission status updateTo watch news conferences and commentary online, please visit:http://www.youtube.com/nasajpl/liveA complete list of ways to watch online can be found at:https://go.nasa.gov/3ojDWkjMore About the MissionA key science objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars isastrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and will be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and sediment for later return to Earth. Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger NASA initiative that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon through NASA’sArtemis lunar exploration plans.For more about Perseverance:https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020andhttps://nasa.gov/perseveranceFor more about Ingenuity:https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter