NASA Perseverance Rover Gives 360° View of Mars in High-Resolution 'Virtual Tour'

NASA offered the world a tour of Mars using the Perseverance 360-degree high definition panorama sent back from the Red Planet.

Using its powerful Mastcam-Z, the rover caught the scene as it sat approximately one and a half miles from the Jezero Crater basin that it would soon explore in pursuit of ancient signs of existence.

With 5,000 command parameters, the stunning panorama was developed, shooting a total of 142 photos that Perseverance beamed back to Earth, where NASA stitched them together.

Although the picture may appear like a desolate desert, a deeper look at the environment shows various secret jewels waiting for Perseverance to explore them.

NASA Perseverance's Martian Tour: How The Camera Captured The High-Resolution Tour

Jim Bell of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration, the instrument's principal investigator, told Space.com there were single detectors in the Viking cameras to search up and down and switch side by side.

Unlike the Viking landed on Mars in 1976, Perseverance has 19 sensors, including a two-mega-pixel sensor that provides Earth with the Red Planet's highest resolution images yet.

SlashGear said NASA engineers and crew installed two Mastcam-Z's cameras to record videos and photos in focus and panoramic color and 3D images of the Martian surface.

The dual-camera device capable of zooming into some locations. It can also provide two and a half times the resolution and ten times the Viking telephoto size.

NASA zoomed on numerous parts of the new panorama during the live stream to provide the audience with an up-close look at the Martian planet.

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NASA Perseverance's Martian Tour: How The Red Planet Looks Like

An odd rock that NASA called 'harbor seal' occupies to the left of the rover. It stood at a position that has been shaped by Martian wind eroding it for billions of years and structures littering the land northeast of the rover that may have originated from an ancient volcano.

The crater rim and cliff face of an ancient river delta in the distance are exposed closer to the basin.

A block hill, a separate remnant of the delta that might have been far greater at one time, is depicted in one panorama region.

Another region reveals rocks littering the floor that the retro rocket that kicked up dust may have shown when Perseverance touched down on the Martian surface on February 18.

Some colored white, around a foot and a half wide, is nestled among the red rocks with interesting features and textures that may be relics of an ancient volcano.

"This is our first glimpse at it, and as we drive out there, we can have more details regarding it," Bell said.

NASA Perseverance's Martian Tour: Why NASA Installed Better Cameras for Percy

Astrobiology is a crucial aim for Perseverance's project on Mars, particularly the quest for evidence of ancient microbial existence.

The rover would describe the geology and historical climate of the planet, prepare the way for the Red Planet's human discovery, and be the first project to gather and conceal Martian rock and regolith.

The space agency said the rover cameras would help scientists examine the Jezero Crater's geological past and ambient environments and classify rocks and sediments deserving closer inspection and selection for eventual return to Earth.