Perseverance pays off: Mars rover lands safely, begins search for signs of life

After seven months in space, NASA's Perseverance rover survived a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed manoeuvres to gently float down to the Martian soil late on Thursday and embark on its search for signs of past life. 

This photo made available by NASA shows the first image sent by the Perseverance rover showing the surface of Mars, just after landing in the Jezero crater, on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. © NASA via AP

"Touchdown confirmed," said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 UT), as mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California erupted in cheers.

The autonomously guided procedure was completed more than 11 minutes earlier, the length of time it took for radio signals to return to Earth.

Touchdown #NASAPerseverance pic.twitter.com/nFAaOq2IVD

— Dori Toribio (@DoriToribio) February 18, 2021

Shortly after landing, the rover sent back its first black-and-white images, revealing a rocky field at the landing site in the Jezero Crater, just north of the Red Planet's equator.

• Nasa mission to Mars to climax with 'seven minutes of terror'

More images, video of the descent and perhaps the first sounds of Mars ever recorded by microphones are expected in the coming hours as the rover relays data to overhead satellites.

US President Joe Biden hailed the "historic" event.

"Today proved once again that with the power of science and American ingenuity, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility," he tweeted.

Enthusiastic violation of Covid protocol

During a press call, NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen theatrically tore up the landing phase's contingency plan, to emphasise how well things had gone. He admitted he had violated Covid protocol by hugging people because of the emotions of the moment.

“Now the amazing science starts,” a jubilant Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science mission chief, said.https://t.co/fsUFH6LGAK

— WWMT-TV (@wwmtnews) February 19, 2021

Over the coming years, Perseverance will attempt to collect 30 rock and soil samples in sealed tubes, to be eventually sent back to Earth sometime in the 2030s for lab analysis.

About the size of an urban utility vehicle, the craft weighs a ton, is equipped with a two meter-long robotic arm, has 19 cameras, two microphones and a suite of cutting-edge instruments to assist in its scientific goals.

The rover is the fifth human construction to land on Mars. The feat was first accomplished in 1997.