NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover came across something peculiar last week, and at first glance, it appears to be either some trash or snake skin. However, both answers are wrong, as it’s actually just a part of NASA Skycrane hardware, which is what the team used to safely land Perseverance on the Red Planet.
How does the Skycrane work? Think of it as a heavy-lift helicopter, but without the blades, that utilizes tether cables to lower the rover down to the surface while the crane relies on rocket propulsion to hover above. Unlike the helicopters you see on a daily basis, as soon as the Perseverance’s wheels hit Mars regolith, the flying crane shot itself clear of the landing area and completed its task in a fiery explosion. For those wondering, the NASA Skycrane was also used for the Mars Curiosity descent back in 2012.
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We talked about it to no end. If this didn’t go right, there would be nowhere to hide because every joe six-pack on the street would be saying that they knew it wouldn’t work,” said Adam Steltzner of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, chief engineer for the Perseverance rover.