Joe Malan: Perseverance rover calls Mars home

Joe Malan, Enid News & Eagle, Okla.
·2 min read

Feb. 26—Can you imagine being the first person to step foot on a new world? To hear the sounds? To breathe in the air?

The red soil crunching under your feet? The wind lightly whistling over the hilltops?

The atmosphere thick with carbon dioxide as you slowly suffocate.

OK, so not everything about Mars is perfect, starting with the atmosphere. And it really is downright cold, too (negative triple digits at night).

Me? Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll tell you I'm not a cold weather person. I absolutely despise the cold. So, early February was pretty much the worst. I like snow, as long as the temperature's hovering around 30, not 0.

There is no snow on Mars, of course, just brutally cold nighttime temps. However, it's not like the Mars Perseverance rover could tell.

But watching the rover land on Mars in a thrilling video unveiled by NASA was almost like stepping out onto that red dirt.

Never have us Earthlings had a clearer picture of a craft from the homeworld landing on another planet. It's amazing to see the planet Mars and all its craters and canyons look so small, and then as the lander gets closer, all the features suddenly become real as real can be.

If you haven't had a chance yet, check it out.

As a bonus, NASA submitted a clip of sounds from the surface of Mars. It's not rock-concert exciting, but it's just incredible to know that you're hearing sounds from the surface of another planet.

During the Perseverance Mission, the rover will seek out signs of current microbial life and ancient life on Mars' surface. It landed in Jezero Crater, a site scientists believe was home to an ancient river delta long, long ago. It seems like a good natural place to start digging.

I'm anxious for a bunch of humans to just get up there with a bunch of shovels and dig the place up already. But, Perseverance looks to be a good mission with a good purpose, one that may finally answer the question astronomers and scientists have been wondering for a long time.

Did life once exist on Mars?

Joe Malan is presentation editor and astronomy writer for the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmalan@enidnews.com.

Joe Malan is astronomy writer and presentation editor for the Enid News & Eagle. Email him at jmalan@enidnews.com.

Have a question about this story? Do you see something we missed? Do you have a story idea for Joe? Send an email to jmalan@enidnews.com.