The video begins after the spacecraft has withstood the 1,300 °C entrance into the Martian atmosphere. Sky-facing cameras on the back shell show the deployment of the 150 lbs parachute in less than a second, which slowed the spacecraft down as it raced towards the surface. Then ground-facing cameras from the rover’s bottom show the heat shield separating and falling to the ground, from about 9.5 kilometers above the surface.
The red landscape is shown in exquisite detail, dotted hills and ledges as well as craters and small valleys, coming into closer focus as the rover continues to descend. When the rover gets close to the ground, the video shifts to sky facing cameras from the rover and ground facing cameras from the descent stage as the descent stage drops the rover down from its cords and slows the descent down using its reverse thrusters. Finally, after the rover touches down on the surface, we see the descent vehicle detach and fly offscreen, to crash someplace nearby. Perseverance has landed.
