Perseverance’s Most Intriguing Images Captured From Mars So Far | Page 3 of 16

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Goodbye, heat shield

The ejected heat shield falling towards the surface. — The ejected heat shield falling towards the surface. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The spacecraft ejected its heat shield when the rover was approximately 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) above the surface. According to Al Chen, Perseverance EDL lead at JPL, a spring responsible for pushing the heat shield away appears to have come loose. This didn’t affect the mission, but it obviously was not supposed to happen.

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