IGNITION: MARS 2020 lights up at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Mission to the Red Planet.
LAUNCH: Great weather for a spectacular launch of MARS 2020. “Go Atlas, Go Centaur, Go Mars 2020”
Atlas V rocket with a Centaur RL10 upper stage booster escapes Earth’s gravity. Tucked within the Centaur nose cone is the Perseverance Rover and a specialized light helicopter, Ingenuity.
At 46 seconds, Atlas V accelerating to Mach 1 supersonic speed.
Aircraft at max dynamic pressure.
Traveling at 6000 mph, Atlas V jettisons Solid rocket boosters.
Atlas V throttling to constant 2.5G acceleration for payload jettison.
With Atlas V engine cut off, Centaur booster separates from Atlas.
With its herculean mission accomplished, Atlas V drifts away. the Centaur booster will soon fire. monitoring of the mission will continue using space tracking video.
At a height beyond camera range, the Centaur booster with Perseverance at its tip is tracked using space tracking video generated “by actual telemetry data.”
The Centaur booster releases Perseverance injecting it into an interplanetary trajectory to Mars. Travel time: 7 months.
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