Spectacular footage of NASA’s Perseverance rover safely touching down on the surface of Mars last week showed close-up pictures of not only the rover but also the descent stage that lowered it. Cameras fixed to both vehicles captured the dramatic landing from multiple angles and in astonishing clarity, providing space fans with the highest-quality footage from NASA’s five rover landings to date. But as the spacecraft carrying Perseverance descended toward the Martian surface, the entire event was being tracked by another spacecraft more than 400 miles away. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched from Earth in 2005 before reaching the red planet the following year. As the Perseverance spacecraft floated toward the planet with an open parachute (yes, the one that contained a hidden message ), the orbiter captured a remarkable image that shows the scale of the red planet against the car-sized rover. The orbiter used its HiRISE camera to grab the image, which NASA posted … [Read more...] about NASA’s Mars orbiter captures image of Perseverance’s parachute phase
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NASA’s next spacewalk is on Sunday. Here’s how to watch
Two astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are gearing up for a spacewalk on Sunday, February 28. And you can watch it live online. NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover will step outside the orbiting outpost 250 miles above Earth to perform maintenance work that’s expected to take around six-and-a-half hours to complete. Specifically, Rubins and Glover will start work on assembling and installing modification kits needed for upcoming solar array upgrades . “The current solar arrays are functioning well, but have begun to show signs of degradation, as expected, as they were designed for a 15-year service life,” NASA said . “The first pair of solar arrays were deployed in December 2000 and have been powering the station for more than 20 years. Later this year, the new solar arrays will be positioned in front of six of the current arrays, increasing the station’s total available power from 160 kilowatts to up to 215 kilowatts.” The pair will be … [Read more...] about NASA’s next spacewalk is on Sunday. Here’s how to watch