NASA releases Mars landing video: 'Stuff of our dreams'
Cape Canaveral: NASA on Monday released the first high-quality video of a spacecraft landing on Mars, a three-minute trailer showing the enormous orange and white parachute hurtling open and the red dust kicking up as rocket engines lowered the rover to the surface.
The footage was so good and the images so breathtaking that members of the rover team said they felt like they were riding along.
It gives me goose bumps every time I see it, just amazing, said Dave Gruel, head of the entry and descent camera team.
The Perseverance rover landed last Thursday near an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater to search for signs of ancient microscopic life. After spending the weekend binge-watching the descent and landing video, the team at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, shared the video at a news conference.
These videos and these images are the stuff of our dreams," said Al Chen, who was in charge of the landing team.
Six off-the-shelf color cameras were devoted to entry, descent and landing, looking up and down from different perspectives. All but one camera worked. The lone microphone turned on for landing failed, but NASA got some snippets of sound after touchdown: the whirring of the rover's systems and wind gusts.
Flight controllers were thrilled with the thousands of images beamed back and also with the remarkably good condition of NASA's biggest and most capable rover yet. It will spend the next two years exploring the dry river delta and drilling into rocks that may hold evidence of life 3 billion to 4 billion years ago. The core samples will be set aside for return to Earth in a decade.
NASA added 25 cameras to the USD 3 billion mission the most ever sent to Mars. The space agency's previous rover, 2012's Curiosity, managed only jerky, grainy stop-motion images, mostly of terrain. Curiosity is still working. So is NASA's InSight lander, although it's hampered by dusty solar panels.
They may have company in late spring, when China attempts to land its own rover, which went into orbit around Mars two weeks ago.
Deputy project manager Matt Wallace said he was inspired several years ago to film Perseverance's harrowing descent when his young gymnast daughter wore a camera while performing a backflip.
Some of the spacecraft systems like the sky crane used to lower the rover onto the Martian surface could not be tested on Earth.
So this is the first time we've had a chance as engineers to actually see what we designed, Wallace told reporters.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science mission chief, said the video and also the panoramic views following touchdown are the closest you can get to landing on Mars without putting on a pressure suit.
The images will help NASA prepare for astronaut flights to Mars in the decades ahead, according to the engineers.
There's a more immediate benefit.
I know it's been a tough year for everybody, said imaging scientist Justin Maki, and we're hoping that maybe these images will help brighten people's days.
Your front-row seat to my Mars landing is here. Watch how we did it.#CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/Avv13dSVmQ
— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 22, 2021
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Lost a good friend; void cannot be filled: Fadnavis mourns Ajit Pawar’s passing
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday described Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s tragic death in a plane crash as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Fadnavis said “today” (January 28) will be a government holiday and there will be a three-day state mourning as a mark of respect to Pawar.
Ajit Pawar’s death has left a void that will never be filled, he said. “After working closely together, it is unbelievable that he is no more,” Fadnavis said.
Talking to reporters, Fadnavis described Pawar as a people’s leader who knew the state well and had a deep understanding of the issues in Maharashtra. He said it takes several years to build and establish such leadership.
Fadnavis said he had apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the tragedy. The CM said he had also spoken with Ajit Pawar’s cousin Supriya Sule and his son Parth Pawar.
“Both (Deputy CM) Eknath Shinde and I are leaving for Baramati now. Once their entire family gathers in Baramati, we will share further details,” he said.
The entire state stands by Pawar’s family and his party NCP in this hour of grief, he added.
Ajit Pawar, 66, and four other persons were killed after an aircraft carrying them crashed in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday morning, officials said. The incident occurred when the plane carrying Pawar and others landed near Baramati, they said.
Several state BJP leaders, including Ashish Shelar, Ravindra Chavan and Chandrashekhar Bawankule, expressed deep grief over Pawar’s passing.
“This heart-wrenching incident has left the mind numb. Maharashtra has lost an experienced, dutiful and resolute leader,” state minister Shelar said.
Pawar left a distinct imprint on the state’s politics through his strong grip over administration, decisiveness and relentless drive for Maharashtra’s all-round progress. “Firmness, discipline, punctuality and tireless dedication were defining aspects of his personality,” he said.
BJP state president Ravindra Chavan said Maharashtra’s politics was unimaginable without Pawar. He said Pawar was known as a dynamic leader with a powerful command over administration and an unwavering focus on the state’s comprehensive development.
He said Pawar held the record for serving the longest tenure as deputy CM in the state’s history and left an indelible mark while handling key portfolios such as irrigation, energy and finance. “With his passing, Maharashtra has lost a firm, disciplined, punctual and indefatigable leader. This void can never be filled,” Chavan said.
Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule described Pawar as a senior friend and guide. “Even now, it is difficult to accept that this tragedy has really happened,” he said. Pawar would be remembered as a true people’s leader who gave clear direction and unstoppable momentum to Maharashtra’s all-round development, Bawankule said.
Recalling Pawar’s immense administrative experience, Bawankule said he had personally sought the NCP leader’s advice on several occasions.
“The loss of Ajitdada is not merely the departure of one leader; it is a profound loss for Maharashtra itself. The nation has lost a visionary statesman, and I have lost a dear elder friend and guide,” Bawankule said, adding that the reality of Pawar no longer being among them felt impossible to accept.
VIDEO | Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis expresses grief over the demise of Deputy CM Ajit Pawar in an aircraft crash. He says, “This morning, a very tragic incident occurred. In extremely unforeseen circumstances, the news of the unfortunate demise of our state’s deputy chief… pic.twitter.com/sKIKJ5FvRW
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 28, 2026
