On Perseverance

Three-hundred million miles. That's how far NASA's Perseverance Rover travelled inside a custom space capsule on its way to Mars between July of 2020 and February of 2021. But chances are, it was only the last one-hundred-forty-two miles that you heard anything about. The descent that jour...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fourth genre 2021-10, Vol.23 (2), p.v-vi
Main Authors: Franklin, Joey, Madden, Patrick
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cameras
Editors' Note
Foot
Mars
Moon
Space exploration
Spacecraft
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Three-hundred million miles. That's how far NASA's Perseverance Rover travelled inside a custom space capsule on its way to Mars between July of 2020 and February of 2021. But chances are, it was only the last one-hundred-forty-two miles that you heard anything about. The descent that journalists have variously described as "harrowing," "acrobatic," or "perilous," and that NASA called "seven minutes of terror." It's compelling as narratives go, and NASA recorded most of it using six on-board HD cameras. How the capsule slammed into the Martian atmosphere at 13,000 miles per hour; how its protective shield heated up to more than 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit; how a 70-foot-wide parachute deployed and then shuddered and flapped as it slowed the capsule to just 200 miles per hour.
ISSN:1522-3868
1544-1733
DOI:10.14321/FOURTHGENRE.23.2.000V