Mars 2020 Spacecraft is Midway to Red Planet

On October 27, 2020, at 4:40 EDT (1:40 p.m. PDT), NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft, which includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter, reached its halfway point — 235.4 million km (146.3 million miles) — on its journey to Mars.

On October 27, Mars 2020 was just as many miles in its metaphorical rearview mirror as it will out its metaphorical windshield,” said Dr. Julie Kangas, a researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“While I don’t think there will be cake, especially since most of us are working from home, it’s still a pretty neat milestone. Next stop, Jezero Crater.”

The Sun’s gravitational influence plays a significant role in shaping not just spacecraft trajectories to Mars, but also the relative movement of the two planets.

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Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

This illustration of NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft in interplanetary space was generated using imagery from NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System. The image is from the mission’s midway point between Earth and Mars. Visible in the graphic are the solar panels on the cruise stage surrounding the top of the aeroshell.

Source / Image Courtesy

Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

This illustration depicts the curved trajectory of NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft noting the positions of Earth and Mars relative to each other both at the time of launch and the time of landing. The trajectory’s curvature is a result of the Sun’s gravitational influence on the spacecraft.

Source / Image Courtesy

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