Slowing down 28 miles per second, and then land on target safely.

[Lake X Kid]

[Lake X Kid]

On Thursday afternoon the Mars 2020 Perseverance, with speeds of 12,000 miles an hour, 25 times the speed of sound, will penetrate the Martian atmosphere like a meteor and begin its descent — while the world watches virtually.

The expectation is for the complex apparatus, which will physically transform from an interplanetary spacecraft into a rover, to land on the planet’s Jezero Crater, via a 70-foot parachute.

“It’s known as the seven minutes of terror. We’ve got seven minutes to slow down from 12,000 miles per hour,” said David Way, the Mars 2020 flight mechanics and simulation lead. “What makes it truly terrifying... this very complex machine that we’ve designed has to work exactly right, and (be) completely autonomously on the very first try. Because in entry descent landing, there are no do overs, no go backs, and there’s no partial credit.”

https://www.dailypress.com/projects/...ssu-story.html

[flabum1017]

Most people have a hard time backing their boat into their driveway...................

[CDave]

The tech is amazing. Imagine 50 years from now what they will be able to do.

[flabum1017]

The tech is amazing. Imagine 50 years from now what they will be able to do.

Maybe they will find a cure for COVID by then.............

[fichrman2]

Amazing feat really - for NASA .....
Musk has made the impossible / possible - just wait untill he gets this Starship deal down like he has the Falcon fleet.
BTW - Did you see the first few images from MARS ????

[transomstand]

50 years ago, Apollo command modules entered earth's atmosphere at 24,000 miles per hour. I would hope entering a less dense atmosphere at half the speed with no human life at stake would be a cake walk.