Watch And Listen: NASA Releases Perseverance Rover's Landing Video, First Audio Recordings From Mars

NASA's Perseverance rover has been sending back spectacular visuals since it landed on Mars last week. The agency has now released footage of the historic landing and the sounds captured from the Red Planet.

The Perseverance rover has sent back incredible images, from a snap of the rover as it was descending on the surface of Mars, to a colored photo of where it landed on the Jezero Crater. NASA has now released a video of the rover's descent and touchdown.

In the three-minute video, one can see the parachute opening up, the rover getting closer and closer to the Martian surface, and the actual, dusty moment of the touchdown.

"Touchdown confirmed. Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars, ready to begin seeking the signs of past life," one can hear mission control calling out upon the rover's landing, followed by the cheers from NASA engineers.

The video includes the footage captured by several cameras, including views from the rover looking up at the descent stage, at the parachute and another looking down at the surface of Mars, according to NASA.

"This video of Perseverance's descent is the closest you can get to landing on Mars without putting on a pressure suit," NASA administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, said. "It should become mandatory viewing for young women and men who not only want to explore other worlds and build the spacecraft that will take them there, but also want to be part of the diverse teams achieving all the audacious goals in our future."

Sounds of Mars from Perseverance

Although the microphone on the rover did not collect data during the descent, it did record sounds from the Martian surface on Feb. 20, the space agency said.

In the recordings, one can hear the Martian breeze, with one version including the noises from the rover and another one without the rover noises.

Perseverance rover's first panorama

NASA also released another incredible footage, showing Perseverance's first panorama of Mars from its landing site. It was captured by the Navcams on Perseverance rover's mast and was actually stitched together from six separate images.

A video shared by NASA shows the full view of the panorama and also zooms in on the image for greater details.

"Perseverance is just getting started, and already has provided some of the most iconic visuals in space exploration history," acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said. "It reinforces the remarkable level of engineering and precision that is required to build and fly a vehicle to the Red Planet."