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PIA24311: Perseverance Rover Approaches Mars (Illustration)
This illustration shows NASA's Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.
 Mission:  Mars 2020 Rover 
 Spacecraft:  Perseverance
 Product Size:  10240 x 5760 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA24311.tif (45.22 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA24311.jpg (1.858 MB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This illustration shows NASA's Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.

Solar panels powering the spacecraft are visible on the cruise state at the top. The cruise stage is attached to the aeroshell, which encloses the rover and descent stage.

Entry, Descent, and Landing, or "EDL," begins when the aeroshell reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere, traveling nearly 12,500 mph (20,000 kph). It ends about seven minutes later, with Perseverance stationary on the Martian surface.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California built and will manage operations of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for NASA.

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2020-12-16