Perseverance

HAPPY LANDING: We had NASA TV on all morning, but at noon we got serious about our viewing, as within the hour, the newest Mars rover Perseverance would land - or not- on the Red Planet.

Things started happening pretty fast starting at about 12:20. The capsule holding the rover was closing in fast. About 12:40 or so, the first chute deployed, slowing things down considerably. 

Not too long after, the sky crane kicked in. Jets helped slow the descent, and the rover was hanging from the crane, a tricky maneuver to be sure. 

We held our breath as frequent updates were announced and milestones along the way were reached. Then, finally, at 12:55 our time, Perseverance touched down in what sounded like a perfect landing. Hooray!

Just a moment or two later, there were images from the Martian surface, taken by Perseverance! I loved seeing its shadow on our neighboring planet.

                     PHOTO: NASA/Bill Ingalls

In a post-landing press release, NASA informed, "About the size of a car, the 2,263-pound (1,026-kilogram) robotic geologist and astrobiologist will undergo several weeks of testing before it begins its two-year science investigation of Mars’ Jezero Crater. While the rover will investigate the rock and sediment of Jezero’s ancient lakebed and river delta to characterize the region’s geology and past climate, a fundamental part of its mission is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. To that end, the Mars Sample Return campaign, being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), will allow scientists on Earth to study samples collected by Perseverance to search for definitive signs of past life using instruments too large and complex to send to the Red Planet."

We used NASA's Mars Photo Booth to put CJ and Annabelle on the Red Planet

One of the next Really Big Deals involving this mission will be testing the helicopter. That's right, there was a flying machine along for the ride with Perseverance. Called Ingenuity, the copter is a first for NASA - or any space agency. If it succeeds, it will mark the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. Here's a short animation from Jet Propulsion Laboratory showing what that might look like.

Prior to today's the main event, we braved the tail end of a.m. rush hour traffic to make our way to Krispy Kreme in Seattle's Sodo area. We wanted to get there early, as the special doughnuts were one day only, limited supply, first come, first served.

We masked up and walked into the surprisingly empty store. We were the only customers. I thought out chances were great that we'd get our Mars doughnuts, but when we rounded the corner to the display case, the two trays labeled Mars 2020 were empty! Our doughnut hopes and dreams were dashed.

However, we asked the friendly Krispy Kreme worker if there would be any more Mars doughnuts available today, and she said they had 'a few' in back. Hooray! We were in luck. We excitedly handed over our boarding passes and waited for the highly anticipated, limited edition treat.  

Imagine our surprise when we saw the doughnuts. I couldn't help but wonder if they were in the back because they were such a train wreck, visually.

For, you see, the doughnuts on social media were these beautiful orbs with swirled shades of red, and a dusting of "Martian" soil. 

The constrast between what we were expecting and what we were given was so sharp, I thought I'd do a little Photoshop side-by-side.

Meanwhile, up north Kennedy trekked out for his Mars doughnut. 

Clearly the North Aurora doughnut artist was having a better day than the Sodo one. 

Kennedy's doughnut was a work of art, relatively speaking.