Hello stomach-in-knots feeling, it’s been awhile #CountdownToMars

I honestly forgot how nervous I was last time and it is hitting me now

The transmitter off command basically transitions @NASAPersevere to broadcast without locking on to the Deep Space Network signal. Doing that predictably helps keep the transition (and temporary loss of telemetry) out of the way of critical events

Also remember that radio signals are a two-way street: the commands / effects will take 11.5 minutes to reach @NASAPersevere and another 11.5 minutes to get back to us to see the results

lol is this you @ekhines

Peanut watch 2021: full container (minus 3 peanuts)

history here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/10022/what-are-nasas-lucky-peanuts.amp

Aww, hearing @icancallubetty thank the whole team for doing an incredible job of delivering the spacecraft for landing in the presence of a pandemic

Hahah @kacomeaux reminding us all of the launch day earthquake. What a start!

As a tribute, @NASAPersevere carries this to honor the medical community. You can see a duplicate in the mission control room

Time to vent that HRS (heat rejection system) fluid that was pumped around the cruise stage to take heat from the warm rover and dissipate it to space

Time to say good bye to the cruise stage that got us from Earth to Mars. Good job friend. You did great.

This is wild. 11 minutes from entry interface which means at Mars it is already happening!

And we’re getting tones, which are like notes, where each tone represents a step in the landing sequence. It’s shorthand so we can see the landing directly from earth via the deep space network and not just the orbiters

Now getting the Reaction Control System which is used to guide the capsule through the atmosphere, and to stop our spin (which we used to keep us steady like a top en route to Mars)

Not to alarm anyone but @NASAPersevere is basically done with the landing now and we’re just waiting for the results

Ok it turns out I am alarmed

Turns out having done this once did not prepare me any more emotionally for this experience

Come on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, you orbital giant. This is not your first landing! You know what to do! Get that landing signal!

Incredible that from the Doppler shift of the signal we can tell we’ve entered the atmosphere. Doppler shift is that shift in sound as an object approaches then departs you, like a car or train horn

FLYING THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE BANKING AND GUIDING

Thank goodness you’re a robot @NASAPersevere 10x earth gravity worth of deceleration is a lot

Aahhhhh Doppler says the parachute is open! One of the single string items that there are no substitutes for

Lock on to that surface friend! You got this @NASAPersevere !!!!’

It’s working!! TERRAIN RELATIVE NAVIGATION IS WORKING THIS IS AWESOME

Time for your big moment descent stage!

TANGO DELTA NOMINAL. THAYS TOUCHDOWN

TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED!!

OMG. OMG. KNOWING HOW MUCH CAN GO WRONG AND YET IT STILL ALL WENT RIGHT

Also shoutout to the descent stage whose entire life was just for those few minutes. You also did a really good job

ON. MARS.