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NASA's Perseverance rover has successfully landed on the surface of Mars, transmitting telemetry information and the first images of its landing site. A low-resolution driving camera image shows a field of dust-covered rocks, with the unmistakable shadow of the rover hardware. The images were so fresh that the dust kicked up by the landing was still settling in the early images.

The landing came at the end of a cruise through interplanetary space and a dive through the Martian atmosphere, as the rover and its rocket-supported crane shed parachutes, a heat shield, and a lot of speed. It culminated in the skycrane gently lowering the rover to the surface before rocketing off to land at a safe distance.

NASA refers to the landing protocol as "seven minutes of terror," due to its complicated, multi-stage nature , all of which is run under automated guidance. Adding to the tension, all of the outcomes will have already happened over 10 minutes ago by the time any indications of their success reaches Earth.