Secrets of the Red Planet: Perseverance Rover Takes Its First HD Panorama of Mars

The photos from the surface of Mars captured a giant crater that could have hosted an ancient river delta more than 3.5 billion years ago.

Perseverance rover, which is exploring Mars, has sent back the first HD panorama of the Red Planet, creating a fascinating 360-degree look from the Martian surface. The high-definition picture was created with its rotating Mastcam-Z, as the rover combined 142 images. According to NASA, the "cliff face of an ancient river delta" can be seen on the picture.

I'm taking it all in. This is the first 360º view of my home using Mastcam-Z. This dual, high-definition camera system sits atop my mast and has zoom capability. Inspect tiny details of Jezero Crater with the special interactive viewer at https://t.co/roDhWK56gj #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/TAy28PpG73

— NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover (@NASAPersevere) February 24, 2021

​Perseverance successfully landed on Mars on 18 February, becoming the fifth Mars rover launched by NASA. Its main objective is to search for traces of microbial life that could have existed on the planet millions of years ago.