When is Mars Rover’s landing date?

 

Mars Perseverance tracker: The Perseverance rover has four science objectives (Image: NASA)

This map of Mars shows the landing site for NASA’s Perseverance rover in relation to those of previous successful Mars missions (Image: NASA)

In addition to counting down the minutes until the cutting-tech tech touches-down on Mars, enthusiasts can also learn more about the mission through a wide range of multimedia.

This includes scores of videos, hundreds of images and even a tool allowing people to compare Perseverance with the sizes of previous NASA probes.

NASA's Mars Rover is scheduled to land in the Jezero crater, north of the Martian equator, on Thursday, February 18.

Mars Perseverance tracker: NASA’s Perseverance rover fires up its descent stage engines as it nears the Martian surface (Image: NASA)

Mars Perseverance tracker: This illustration shows NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover on the surface of the Red

How will the Perseverance rover land on Mars?

The Perseverance rover mission will use the latest technology in order to maximise its chances of successfully descending and landing in the Jezero crater.

As with Perseverance’s precursor, the Curiosity rover, this latest probe will use a guided entry, descent, and landing system.

This will make use of a parachute, descent vehicle, and an approach called a ‘skycrane manoeuvre’ for lowering the rover on a tether to the surface during the final seconds before landing.

NASA said: “This type of landing system provides the ability to land a very large, heavy rover on the surface of Mars in a more precise landing area than was possible before Curiosity's landing.