How long did it take Perseverance rover to reach Mars' Jezero Crater?

NASA's $2.7 billion robotic rover Perseverance has safely landed on the surface of Mars on the floor of a vast crater after blasting off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station last year. This is the Perseverance's first stop on its search for evidence of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet.

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How long did it take Perseverance rover to reach Mars?

A trip to Mars generally takes about seven months, which is slightly longer than astronauts stay on the International Space Station. However, the exact duration of every journey is dependent on the position of the planets and also when the journey was started. The distance between Earth and Mars constantly changes as they travel around the sun and the time it takes to travel may vary from about six to eight months.

In the case of Perseverance, the rover landed on the surface of Mars almost seven months after it was launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 30, 2020.

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It was around 3:48 PM ET that Perseverance reached the top of the Martian atmosphere, as confirmed by the controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at NASA. The rover was travelling at a speed of over 12,000 miles per hour at this point and it finally touched down on Mars' surface at 3:55 p.m. ET. NASA has also shared the first images that were captured by Perseverance after its historic Mars landing.

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The Perseverance robotic explorer has also carried a small helicopter to the Red Planet which has been called the 'Ingenuity'. It is a small drone which the agency will use to attempt the first flight on another planet. The rover also carried a range of scientific tools and equipment to Mars which will help offer advanced capabilities for the mission.

The Perseverance rover was the third robotic explorer that landed on Mars in February 2021. A few days ago, United Arab Emirate's Hope and China's Tianwen-1 entered the Red Planet's orbit. United Arab Emirate's Hope' probe was the Arab world's first interplanetary mission, and thus a monumental event for the country. China's Tianwen-1 was also the country's first independent interplanetary mission.

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Image credits: NASA