A victory for Perseverance as Mars rover touches down on red planet

Nasa’s Mars Perseverance rover has safely landed on the red planet.

Its mission is to search for signs of ancient life, and explore and collect samples for future return to Earth from diverse environments on Mars.

Perseverance will spend the coming years scouring for signs of ancient microbial life in a mission that could pave the way for future human visitors.

The successful landing of the rover was met with applause and loud cheers across eight rooms at Nasa as the teams were split up in order to be Covid secure.

Steve Jurczyk, Nasa’s acting administrator, said: “It’s amazing to have Perseverance join Curiosity on Mars and what a credit to the team.

“And just an amazing accomplishment.”

Perseverance’s Twitter account also marked its arrival on the red planet, tweeting that it had

landed safely, and then posting pictures from the rover – it’s “forever home”.

The research destination of the rover – a scientific laboratory the size of a car – is Jezero crater, a 28-mile-wide depression containing sediments of an ancient river delta.

Scientists know that 3.5 billion years ago, Jezero was the site of a large lake.

They believe that

somewhere within the crater, there could be evidence that life once existed there.

Perseverance is loaded with HD cameras, a laser and will also drill for samples.

It also carries the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will fly short distances in the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.

An early image sent back of the Mars surface.