Thread by @WIRED

The @NASAPersevere rover landing by the numbers:
⚙️ 6 wheeled rover
⚖️ 2,300 lbs
🪂 Slowing down to 200 mph with a supersonic parachute
🚀 About 70 ft above the landing site, retrorockets will settle it into a hover
😱 7 minutes of terror
🎙️ 1 small mic

#Mars2020 1/

On Thursday, NASA's Perseverance rover is scheduled to touchdown on Mars. The official NASA TV stream will begin at 11:15 am PST / 2:15 pm EST. Here is how to watch:
wired.trib.al/spQveiv
📷: NASA/JPL-Caltech 2/

Earthlings will be able to hear much of the seven-minute landing drama thanks to a small mic embedded on the rover. If all goes well, it will record the sounds of the descent and, later, the martian environment itself, something no Mars probe has yet achieved.
📷:JPL/NASA 3/

Audio engineer Jason Mezilis thought his knowledge of microphones gave him insight into designing a mic for the Mars Perseverance rover. In 2016, after hearing about the mission, he wrote white papers on the mic's design and pitched JPL on helping to develop it. 4/

Mezilis' creative thinking around this question of how to build a martian microphone, catapulted him toward a rendezvous with NASA—and is a reminder that innovation can come from surprising places. Read the full story: wired.trib.al/budRMxc 5/

Groundbreaking Science, only at WIRED. Subscribe today to support our journalism: wired.trib.al/Mutc6Z1 6/