NASA’s SUV-sized Perseverance rover landed on the surface of the Red Planet a year ago today, on February 18, 2021 following a ‘seven minutes of terror’ descent.
Soon after arriving in Martian orbit, Perseverance shot like a speeding bullet through the atmosphere at 12,000mph and successfully deployed the sonic parachute which slowed it down to make a soft landing on the surface.
It descended on the parachute, the backshell separated and the sky crane maneuver carried Perseverance to the ground