transmit direct over there. [cheers and applause] >> following the mars rover perseverance landing nasa officials spoke to reporters about the landing and the mission ahead. >> this is just over an hour. >> hello, and welcome to nasa's jet propulsion laboratory in southern california where we have just landed the most sophisticated and most capable rover yet on the surface of mars, the perseverance rover. i'm zaire cook of jia cook and we get a glimpse of what's to come. because the coronavirus pandemic, everything's going to look a little different today. we have our masks on and the layout is a little different, but i want to introduce our speakers to you. so, standing on the floor of

carmen auditorium we have steve jursic, nasa's acting administrator. mike watkins, the director of jpl. and then we also have john mcnami, perseverance's project manager. up on the stage, we have thomas, nasa's associated administrator for the science mission directorate. we have lori, nasa's planetary science director. matt wallace, the perseverance deputy project manager and al, entry and descent. ken farley, perseverance science project. and the deputy project manager. and over here we have a special group on our video conference, we have a group of the perseverance team members. all right. so we are going to be taking

questions during this briefing so if you're a member of the media and on our phone lines, plus star 1 and you'll be put into the queue. if you're on social media, #countdown to mars. >> before i take the podium what a thrill it's been we have the most ambitious rover yet on the surface of mars. congratulations. [applause]. ... >> i am going to turn the pom over. steve: wow. just an >> wow, this is an amazing and incredible day. i could not be more proud of the

team and whatam they have accomplished under challenging circumstances. i also have to tell you that about an hour after landing, got a phone call from the president of the unitedng states. in his first words were, congratulations man. and i knew it was him. only thehe the president would y congratulations man. he talked about how proud he was of what we have accomplished. and he wanted me to send this regards. and he to congratulate the team. for him and he does want to congratulate contain personally and told him we would make that happen. so i'mth looking forward to havg the president of the united states congratulate the team this week. nine successful landings on mars. the only nation that has been able to do that. it isth incredible. thousands of people are working

on this to make this happen. at the nasa centers and with our industry partners international partners. want to call out 104 other governor agency departments, the department of energy develops the generators that power curiosity and perseverance and a great partner partnership so thank you to our doe partners. you know, this mission is amazing. science and technology and testing samples from back to earth but it's also part of our bigger exploration plan. it involves understanding mars in the evolution of mars and whether there is ancient life but also preparing for eventual human missions to mars. so thiss is one step along the way of our journey to accomplish that goal. and it is a major step and we embark on that of taking the first steps and embarking on thatur journey.

i am amazed that every thing went . much according to plan. and when i heard that touchdown signal come back and so the first image. i cannot tell you how overcome with emotion i was. i did not get a lot of sleep last night. i think i will get good sleep tonight. and again this is an amazing day. i would like to turn it over to my colleague and friend the doctor. >> thank you so much steve and i want to share an event with you that usually happens when i am by myself. and what you should know, is that every time we do a landing, we get to plans. one plan is the one we want to

do and another of that second plan which is right here. thus the contingency plan. here it is. all right. [applause]. just about one and a half hours ore, a little bit more, history happened right here. i want to play a video that the team put together. before i do so, i want to warn you that you may or may not in the last row, have the protocols. you should know that all of those rules back there were doubly mask and only had all of the distance in the world. i will tell you later about my emotions. but i have to hug some people and sorry about that stephen everybody. but role the video please. let's go back to that moment we had.

>> in preparation for the deployed. and now we have confirmed that we have been deployed and were seeing acceleration. the maneuver has started. >> signals coming in . >> confirmed for unit safely on mars. [applause]. it looks like were getting the first damage. image. >> what an amazing moment. i have to tell you that after i was reacting the first five seconds or so, i was overcome with emotions. in the back there. i was tearing up and friendly when i thought about his 20 minutes or so the moment that you just saw, they said this is

the first time that we are all in the same room for months. and i want to thank you for being heree and being part of te team. and of course any individuals on the monitor here and otherwise, were not in that room. and i just to tell you how proud and so moved i was by that team. achieving that amazing success. i'm reminded of a statement of the famous coach. what are the three most important things that create success in the game. and it turns out the same is true for nasa. here are the following three . in the order of priority. the team, the team and the team. i just really want to thank the team for that.nk [applause]. and of course for me, this is a beginning. now the amazing science starts .

i am so looking forward to designs coming from there. every yard onth the surface of mars, is a yard or sample return to collect these precious samples and bring them back to earth.nd and ofrt course, you should know that one of the first from the international community was for my friend david parker, my colleague who sent his congratulations. and i want to tell him back how gexcited we are to continue to work with them on this amazing joint commission. this international history making mission that we are now endeavoring. of course with perseverance right there. we are already starting to develop someitan of the moving r towards mars, sample return. and any complete steps are also happening of course towards another goal which is exploration of mars as well. like there's a whole bucket of

miracles that you need to achieve to doof that. and taking some miracles off of the table. above today but also as we go forward with our mars sample return. the future mars expiration is just so broad and exciting involves any other nations as well for unit in the leaders, any of them are still in school or even in kindergarten are younger. and those leaders we will need as we do this amazing goals. i want to think of the international partners of mars 2020 perseverance. something like 35 vendors from 11 nations that of course headed up to a nearly thousand within the united states. eleven nations that included a lot of them. h i've been in some of these nations and i know where these pieces are coming from. and how proud the stations are. note course, we have three partners that have contributed

instruments . france spain and norway. and our french callings for example, the prime minister was right there with the team and celebrating with them. i'm so glad for w the support in each of those company and receiving from the governments. we look forward for each of the contributions and internationally and by the team here will provide information and tell us about mars. most of the future collaboration that will be enabled byco the amazing historic today. we don't take this from granted . mars is one of the toughest things. it is making it look easy i have to tell you. it's incredible to me it i told steve this morning, you have to get up in the night twice to sweat through a wet t-shirt with a new one. i was telling myself that i was telling my body to not say so.

and i'm sure i only need one of them tonight as we go forward. that's in no small way because of my next time i will introduce you which of course mike the director . taken away mike. >> thank you thomas. i would like to welcome everyone virtually to the laboratory here. mike: any of our journalists callings have been in this room who actually celebrated all the mars plantings everin accomplisd what humankind right here in this room. i miss the fact that you're not here with us today. we see have the lab buzzing with thousands of folks but because of covid-19 were doing this remotely. but i still hope you feel part of this and engage us with questions and follow-up. we have a fantastic project team. there is no question about it . matt wallace and talk a lot more about that team.

but i also want to notice the rest of jpl. it really took a lot of folks working together to make this mission successful and of course working on other missions other than mars perseverance as well. we've had to keep this missions going in march 2020 going. but he is our cio office to make can work in a virtual sense remotely. and of course were keeping everyone safe in terms of ppe and facility changes. we sort of had to change the tires as we were going down the highway starting last year. very proud of having been able to make 2020 a success. another perseverance is on the surface, i hope you're sharing the magic that i do personally. in these first few days on mars, i always think the most magical. all of the great panoramas in the color photos and great

science and or sample acquisitions in the helicopter flights. will follow love with those and see them in the coming months. but there is something special about the first few days. because we have just landed a rep. at the planet earth on place on mars then no one has ever been to pray to is ever seen it except from orbit imagery from a few hundred miles above mars. i believe that magical sense that we bring is a lot of the reason the jpl exists. an asset exists. denying everyone at the lab is very proud to be part of that. and now to talk more about what towi do with this mission on the service now that we are simply down. i would like to turn it over to the doctor the head of the planetary science division. that is the headquarters . thank you. >> thank you so so much mike. i really appreciated. there is just so much excitement

and emotion here today. i of course have to extend my thanks as well to the entire team who really had to work under adverse conditions over the last year but have worked hard for the six years prior to that as well. and probably before that leading up to the beginning of the project when it got kicked off. i would also like to make sure that i give a little shell south and thanks to my headquarters staff that support this as well. we all work together, all one big team. i want to tell the folks here the mars 2020 team that it was just such an honor to be here and allowed to sit in with the control room with you guys did you guys are all incredible and amazing i know was not in the full team there in the full breadth of the team and the capabilities are just astounding. i'm so proud of everything you have accomplished and thank you for letting me put be part of a here today.

it is really truly exciting. now that we are on the ground . now the starts . will hear from a little bit after monday and the science team has already getting started and working for you and timsc is looking at the pictures. and he is all ready looking at them and trying to figure out what we will do and where we are.re so it's fantastic and i can't wait to get all of the instruments turned on over the next several daysnt and weeks ad start collecting data. and in particular over the next few days that we are getting down all of the imaging and the microphone then at that wereat taken during the distance. i think it will take us all along on that dissent. we will all get to express exactly what that was like bring this will be the first time that we've ever for that opportunity. do not just look at the data that came back and said yes the parachute deployed and yes, the skytrain operated we will get to

see it and limit and participate . everyone of us on that way down and it will be amazing. i'm really looking forward to that. i would also like to in my time here, give ave shout out to the more than 1 million students that joined in for the mars student challenge and i t want o thank you all, can we all think the students. [applause]. fantastic and we are just so excited that so any young people around the country and around the world have gotten engaged with this mission. it's incredibly inspiring. as thomas said, it is your generation that is going to take us forward. your generation going to analyze the samples when they come back tok earth . and we are so happy to have so much interaction with the students.

the mars challenge, the student challenge is still up there and folks can still sign up and participate in an activity. so continue to participate. so with that, i am going to pass things over to john. thank you so much. a project manager congratulations john and thank you so much. john: so i woke up this morning, i slept like a baby. i will tell you why in a minute. i got a little exercise. i had a little breakfast . landed on mars in . good day so far. [laughter]. and the reason i slept so well as i'm stephen maureen thomas, the quality of the team that was brought to parents on this very very. difficult endeavor. i'm talking it very much

extended team. it doesn't just include jpl. we have tremendous support and nasa headquarters from jpl management, and a technical establishment that is here. in the technical division at jpl but also an industry. like the other nasa centers that were brought to bear on this project. our international partners and a wealth of contractors that contributed greatly to the success of this mission. we all celebrated together for sure. it was a very difficult task that we aske people to do. they delivered. they tested and weak landed. and we have turned over to the operations team. you'll hear from jennifer in a minute and the science team, you will hear from kent in a minute. and now they have a job to do. a real job to do now that we

have put this down on the surface. it i know the service team in the science team were anxious for us to get there. and then as we started to get there, they said oh my god, they are actually going to get there. we need to finish doing what we need to dohe to operate this rover. while they did that no start and actually they are doing it as we speak right now. so anyway, thank you for all who contributed. i would argue that if you looked f up perseverance in the dictionary, you would see the faces of all of these people that are on the screen here and all of the people on the panel. so thank you very much and i will turn it over to my partner in crime, and the person i called the conscience of the project. essentially from the get-go. matt . >> we believe this briefly to fulfill the longtime commitment

to the senate coverage. the senators are meeting for brief session. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the parliamentarian will read a communication to the senate. the parliamentarian: washington, d.c., february 19, 2021. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable chris van hollen, a senator from the state of maryland, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick leahy, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 3:00 p.m. on monday,i will give you more n

about that. will give you more n we did transition to our s >> we are doing well. we do have a couple of, images. i will show these on the screen if you can bring up the imagery. these are engineering cameras images that are taken of the front of the vehicle in the rear of the vehicle when we land. and you can see the shadow of the vehicle. and you can look out into the horizon. and that is a great thing to see

from the team. so the next thing that we will do here, it is that we have never tried before in addition to this crater. we have never tried to bring the team into our press conference here and we want to try to do that. are you guys ready out there . you guys ready to try this. okay. i think i'm getting nods up and down. here we go . who going to try to switch over for unit and introduce you to the mars 2020 perseverance team. here you go . congratulations team. it. [applause]. [applause].

[applause]. >> >> this is the team the built the computers and the structures and the radars. they integrated the prop tanks and all of the engines and they built actuators and robot arms and sampling systems for unit these guys never rested. all part terrific science instruments and are technology payloads. really a remarkable team. and they did it days and nights and weekends . they worked

through the holidays. they work first shift and second shift and third shift from unit just a remarkable accomplishment and we are so proud to be part of what they have done here. and they look good, they look good on tv i think. so hopefully you got to see some of their faces and some of the families. maybe a couple of pets along the way. [laughter]. but congratulations to the whole team and thank you all for everything you have. done. i am going to turn it over to al, the lead of our squash dpl team . and he will tell you more. >> thank you mass. that was quite a ride. that never gets old, landing on mars. you will want to tell the whole project team thank you and especially to the family out there. i amil so proud of you. you guys didn't . i can tell you a little bit about what we know so far . usually takes is a

couple of days to figure out the side benefit of the system, we know . well where we are at . bring up the first picture, you can see that were off-center a little bit . 1.7 kilometers or so to the top piece. as a . good area but navigation was . important here. go to the next figure. you can see that it's relatively rugged there. and ken will be able to tell you about the science are but i'm worried about what would kill us on mining safety go to the next line here. you can see that the system managed to find a nice blue spot in the midst of all of that red. all of that other area for us. so we found a parking lot. and we hit it. it navigation system was absolutely essential in getting it down here and help us figure out where we are right away.

we are nice flat spotted that vehicles only tilted by about 1.2 degrees. so we did successfully find that parking lot and have a safe rover on the ground. i could not be more proud of my team for doing that. that's really all i have to say. i think this is the end of my journey i guess with perseverance but the venture, the mission is really just beginning. i'm going to toss it over to jennifer to talk more about this. >> thank you allennn thank you. if you and your team did a fantastic job and we are so grateful to be in this position. i must feel like i am in a dream. our job to think about all of the bad things itk can happen d try to avoid those. jennifer: and will the good things happen, i feel like i'm dreaming of having to save the happy to be here but i first want to do the most important thing which is introduce you to another portion of the team. some are for the landing and

summer for this system surface operations. as of the team want to share their excitement with you about being on the surface of mars and getting ready for an amazing science mission. as a thank you team. this team is awaiting the odyssey overplay. let's give them a hand. [applause]. saw this team, is awaiting the odyssey i overplay which will probably happen about 4:30 p.m. is a very small data volume so we get much information within a 6:30 p.m., the orbiter for having overflight and sent out a fair amount of data. ii think that's what everybody s looking forward to with these images and mike talked about price of the images that we might, if anything goes well, we will likely get the deployed coverage that you are looking at before was the cam without the coverage deployed . we hope that we will get some movies of some

of the camera images so that the front row seat. in the landing. that is possible that will get an actual image from the dissent camera . the last 10 meters before we landed on the surface. soso we are all on the edge of r seat looking forward to getting those images . just a few other information about the remarkable we think we are facing southeast based on the shadows about a hundred and 40 degrees rated the deltas al said, it's flat, about re1.2 degrees. the power system looks good. the rtd, the generator before we landed was at 105 watts we think it will go a little higher. the batteries are charged at 95 percent . and everything looks great. so we are excited to get the next set of information from perseverance. the team will get images tonight but then overbu the next few da, we spent a little bit of time, watching with model here . kind of unwrapping the rover. the mass is not deployed.

so the remote sensing mass here, and will also be pointing, the antenna at earth. that's how we will communicate. right now the rubber sitting dana through the orbiter on an antenna than sitting here on the back of the rover. and we can commanded but only through an omnidirectional we are excited to be opening up the rover over the next few days and after that we will transition the software as john mentioned. any of these people have been working on this admission for years and we were finishing the surface software as we were flying to mars. the vehicle but we will spend a little time transitioning to that software. then we will finish the checkouts of all of the instruments and we will drive to our location. whatever that might be. were going to spend a little time talking to the rover planner. to decide where the traverse and what a safe and what is not .

there's a ripple field in front of us. so we might to be doing some drawing big around the ripple field.nd we're going to spend time and figure out what the traverse places are in with the helicopter demo flight should be. so that's what we are working on. in summary, would like to say as i step back, it's going to be able to share the success . to am so happy for the team that has worked so hard. this is an incredible team and they have pushed through so any challenges. them were also very excited to be able to share in the success with everybody everybody is watching and cheering for us. we really areng excited for youo join us on this great mission on mars that we are going to go through in the next several years . going to learn more about mars. with that i am one handed over to kid who will talk more about the science mission on mars. >> jennifer.

i would say wow, we've got a science mission. and has been a long road to get here . wanted to point out, maybe not obvious on the outside but mission like this is a lot like a decade long relay race. there's whole for stage where the whole spacecraft was designed and built and literally as the pandemic was closing in, was resolved in the cape to make the launch of the second leg was to get through space and rice successfully as we have just done. in the third leg is the one we are about to embark on as a science mission. one of the amazing things about this is there are thousands of people all along the way and each step so people move on to new jobs on behalf of the science team i want to thank my friends right here and all of the folks that got us to where we are. this is a spectacular place to be. so thank you all so much for that and we are going to do you proud of the science mission.

i want to start off just saying a few words about where we are and what we know so far. this is obviously not much information and my phone is buzzing all of the time. so were already starting the process with the information we have but in the first image you can see that we landed to the southeast of the delta come about 2 kilometers to the southeast of the delta. and we arere actually right on e boundaries between two different theological units, this kind of smooth area that we landed on, and then there is the rough area, actually with the dunes are. this is a great place to be because one of the things that the scientists love to do is look to see how two different geological units come together. tells you a lot about this history. it so we are really excited to get going on this and if i could have the next image unit so these images, i hope everybody

understands that these are actually taken at only one of n the fans in the red color band for him actually taken through the protective lens cap is putot on camera. these are amazing things that we got back in the first few seconds after we landed . but we can already see important things. there are rocks in this view. we don't knowew exactly how big they are they might be about 10 centimeters would be a reasonable guess. so those are going to be interesting. they will undoubtedly be some of the first objects that we explore once a kind shakedown sphase of the early rover operations are complete parted and also in the background, we believe that we can see the delta. there pictures in the back to look like the cliffs of the delta. so when we get those additional pictures back the jennifer mentioned, we should know a lot more about that. then we can also see sand sand dunes in there actually something of a relief scientist

told me that the image, he saidt looks like mars. some glad we have successfully planted on mars. so the science team is really excited to get going here. we have years of scientific investigation ahead of us. i will turn it back for questioning. >> thank you candy were about to start the q&a . so if you're a reporter and the phone lines, remember that you can just start one and get into the queue . on social media, you want to ask questions them use the # countdown to mars. so our first reported question comes from steve of cbs news. go ahead steve. reporter: congratulations to everyone prayed i wouldyo like o focus my question to matt wallaceul and al can come obviously we see you through the lenses of the cameras as this is happening. could you take a step back and maybe describe for us what was your through your mind, heart and what were the emotions

as the seven minutes of terror were taken place in the reaction when you knew that perseverance had safely touched down on mars. matt: it is hard to really describe. you think you are prepared for it. it is part of our business in some ways. we are exploring and going places we have not been. we know there is risk, and uncertainty. i don't think a single work day went by for the must eight or nine years were i do not think about this landing. you always worry, did you make the right decision. did you test the right things. did you put the right people in charge. we clearly did on perseverance. but it consumes you and becomes part of you. and in some ways, it is hard still to believe that we

finished it and that we are done. it still feels a little surreal because itt becomes embedded in the way you think. you have to be constantly verified of it and respected. at the same time you have to somehow believe that you can do it or you never try to put a car on the surface of mars. it is crazy. it is part of what we do i guess and at some point, it becomes part of how you think. but there really is no good way to describe that moment when it is over and you hear those words, touchdown confirmed. it's a remarkable feeling of pride in the team and relief. and really joy thinking forward to this remarkable mission that we have coming up.

that is the best i can do. the me turn it over to help. >> this is still . raw for me right now. the vehicle is on a roller coaster ride and you are too. the little pieces of data come back and seem to be working the way you want them to go and you start getting feeling good. and then something comes by the doesn't quite match what you thought it could be.om that really right, you expected that it did something come out of order. then your stomach drops. and then you think you're okay again. then you pick up that piece of information and you think needs are going okay again. it's an emotional roller coaster ride all the way down that way. and you're second-guessing yourself as you go. even though it's already happened. which sounds crazy. it's a feeling of being very fortunate at the end for me. i get to work at a place with people who are great people. we still get to celebrate

together. reporter: thank you. >> our next caller iss marsha done. go ahead marsha . reporter: hi and congratulations. for al, all ofbl those blue dots up sorry all the red dots running that patch. so mostly rocks and how close you came to the mission on landing and thankt you. al: will have to take a closer look at exactly what we had there. inin general, it was little scarier because we want to make sure we find the spots. we consider hazard so that if you came down there, some of these places are definitely individuals there. let's take a closer look how close we came but definitely the system did what it was supposed to do. this area was available to us.

>> next call is from paul wpi. reporter: hello yes and thank you for taking my question. this dissent images i have not seen yet. but to what extent do you expect major changes. and perseverance is planned route based on those images and about how much imagery you think you're going to get in terms of the number of images and video and much better with the speed in which you have from the orbiters. it i don't know if that would be for lori or for jennifer. okay glad jennifer. jennifer: i can talk about the images . meeting overt the next few days we will get all of the defense and landing movies down so we can see basically that front-row seat of what happened

of all of the different cameras those movies. as far as where we might go once we see those, i can probably talk better and see what he says about that, talk with ken. >> i expect that we will explore that contact that we mentioned it. between the units. as jennifer mentioned, that's a dim field we may have to go around it but i suspect will go around the either one direction or the other towards the delta. >> thank you and we will take our next reporter question from sam of aft. reporter: hi and thank you for taking my question and congratulations. we had two microphones on board. when might we know if that perseverance was successfully recording the first direct from mars. jennifer: we should be able to

get some of that information and some of the overnight passes tonight and early morning . so hopefully will be able to understand whether because the sound and with it sounded like. >> thank you next reporter. from pbs news hour. reporter: congratulations to the team. great great job. my question follows on the last two about the imagery from the cameras that you put on to be the dissent vehicle and the rover itself. can you talk a little open about, you say they will come down starting tonight and early night . i know there was some rugged sports cameras, the go pro cameras . pointed in all different directions . and taking video expected all to

come down in the next few hours or is that something that will trickle in over days freighted when you expect to release it . matt: i can give you a type of overview there. yes, as thomas mentioned, and other cement and, for the first time we are going to be seeing ourselves in high definition video land of another planet. we put commercial ruggedized cameras at various locations on the vehicle, three of them. and supersonic parachutes and one of the dissent stage looking down at the robert and one of the rover that looks up at the dissent stage . we have one at the rover looking down as well. we think we will capture some . spectacular and we have captured hopefully some . spectacular video and they come with a microphone as well. so think that is what you're asking about. we are in fact hoping that we can bring one image, one still

image from those cameras to the table tomorrow. from the dissent stage looking down at the rover. and i think that is going to hopefully we will see that and i am hoping that will be remarkable image. with the first video product, we're going to work on over the weekend it is the imagery comes k down. and we will try to bring that to a press conference on monday. i think that is really going to be something to see. it is going to be remarkable and i'm looking forward to it myself. >> thank you. our next reporter is stephen from spaceflight now. reporter: i am just wondering if maybe jennifer can go through the timeline over the next couple of days in more detail about when the lens covers will be opened and when the antenna will be locked on earth. and when the mass be deployed

and when the first drive might be. walk me through that place and maybe one of the doctors, if the mars sample campaign was really hindering on the outcome of today . just wanted to get your comments on any relief that you felt that your whole mars sample return strategy is reality now after today's outcomes. thank you. jennifer: i will start with what we are doing over the next several times. after the rover landed, it did release the antenna and the lens covers because by the images that we expect to see this evening, they will be without the lens covers. those will be the cam images along with the other images that we talked about. first 45 because we are trying to do is try to get the power in the thermally communications, the infrastructure of the rover

stabilized so then we can go and operate as we mentioned . the first thing that we will do tomorrow, we did a gyro compass today as well to see if we can understand the orientation on sale one tomorrow wee can point the antenna at earth and then if we get good pointing, then will start commanding the vehicle through that antenna . that's one of the key things that we are trying to do in these early days get that communication like working. we will also release the mouse and then to deploy it and while we are doing these things which i call our critical past infrastructure things we are alsols doing other instruments checks . over the course of the four early activities that all of the instruments we will charge the rover battery. and once we deploy the mass then we will take those initial images with our cams, their camera than a color date. and that they have been black and white. we will take those first panoramas and then another mask

will take those panoramas on south rate and then we will be sending that data down along with additional data from the cameras and other data that we talked about over this week . it will take us to about self or then we actually start to load andrn burn into the rce, our flight computers and the software. we start to do that, about four days of transitioning to new software. we do it carefully. we coded and we make sure that nothing goes wrong. and at the end of that is when we start the next set of checkouts. we will deploy the arms, we will do our first drive, about 5 meters forward and back. and then once we get that checked out, then move will start to drive towards daily sites. we will figure out where we want to fly the valley. we've got to meet requirements of that flight and so we are looking for that now. it ends up being in a few weeks before we get there.

but we are excited about it all. >> i want to quickly talk about your second question steven and that is of course, there is a lot of people all over the world who are breathing a sigh of relief with this touchdown targeted and colleagues, there are working very hard with these new technologies and to bring together to us most amazing missions about bringing the samples back. years ago the technology development in the systems and jpl, and space x. there's two principles that we use to setti the timing. the first one is that we focus on the success . nonbusiness, even if you sweat from shirt or not like i learned about john. we have success . because that's what we want to achieve . that is what we are planning for . the second one is to the mars

sample return campaign not only makes it makes it more effective but also has to be safe. because we actually can use the systems that we have now to move towards the return. for that reason i think there is a lot of people being excited right now all over the world. but lori, anything you want to add to that that i may have overlooked. lori: i think you covered that really well. the only thing that i would say is that it's always nerve-racking to as we go through the land rover that it was doubly so this time. because the return was also . or is reliant on this excessive perseverance. we definitely heaved a sigh of relief on all of the work that is said to go to the mars sample return . but it's exciting that we now have really embarked on that chapter one of the mars

sample return for real. so thank you. >> we going to do a social media question and this might actually be fora lori. if perseverance finds past or present life, what would be do next. it. lori: that is such a great great question because there's so much to do on mars. it's a fascinating fascinating place. and it's a wonderful laboratory for doing incredible science. it certainly, the big question for us now is this question about the evolution of mars and the existence or not a past life and preserved. that is our focus right now. we are always looking forward to the additional signs that we will do in the future. thinking about how planets form and evolve. and mars is a great place to work on all of those different science questions.

>> okay were going to back to our phone lineso . and mike of base .com. reporter: think you'll and congratulations. as a great day for all of us watching as well. in going back to stephen's question about the near future would hold. can you may be jennifer r john r can, like to go out another couple of weeks or a month or so. how long do you anticipate it will get to the helicopters site and how long will this flights take. when will the rover actually be able to start doing science and gathering sampleses and so on ad so forth do you think. and thank you. >> will talk about or once we get the robotic arms working in the ability to work will find that la sites . and depending on how that site is, lifted to the first to admit some of the helicopters underneath the roveo

navigation. we have to be more careful when we're doing that. it really depends on what we find the site. then we will spend 30 cell, 40 minutes longer than an earth day. we can do this in operations mars so we spend about 30 for the helicopter demo and prior to that it will take us about ten to get the helicopter deployed underneath the rover targeted we go about a hundred meters away before we fly it . would like to say is sometimes hard to estimate exactly when things happen but will be flying the helicopter in the spring and spending and after that we will upgrade our auto navigation capability in the rover. we will just try it out to make sure it works and then we will drive towards the first lien site that can and his team are interested in going to party did that depends on what they want to go and how long it takes us to get there that's the point

where we will be doing the first sampling party to so like to say summer is a timeframe when we will be doing the first sampling. we might go faster but we have to thrive traverse two different places that takes a longer period of time, my go slower. and then one thing that i'll just throw in in conjunction is around september where were not able to communicate with space x be classes between the sun and mars. during that time most of the little bit work finishing up the efficiency and capabilities to the vehicle to help it be even smarter and more autonomous and then conducted a vote upload the new build and then we can really do things even faster than we had originally planned. >> can do you want to talk a little bit more about the science part. a. >> is a little bit mature to say much at . mentioned in previous discussion therefore hundred 50

members think most of them are sending me texts and e-mails about what wee should do now. so we have to get together and actually come upt with a common plan. we are not ready to do that just yet. >> thank you. the next reporter question comes from jacky of the times of london. reporter: hello and congratulations everyone. i do all the folks on those screens at your kitchen tables and yes on the captors with your dogs and cats and kids. my questions can one of you on the panel please give us an example of the complexity of the challenges thatt you faced getting this mission to mars under pandemic conditions and to what extent will covid-19 continue to affect operations. for example, with rover operations also be in at the kitchen tables and sofas and pets or does that now changed. thank you. >> i can start of often say a few words. i will let jennifer say a bit

about looking out into the future of the mission. the pandemic struck in just about the worst time. for this mission and we just shipped the vehicle down to kennedy space center. it was in pieces . we still had to put it together and it was a critical time for us . cannot n'make mistakes. there's no safety net at that point. there is no double a checks freighted you have tori do it right. we were still finishing up here at jpl. we had very little schedule margins. the teams were already working multiple shifts. i had already scheduled out the weekend. and we had to react quickly rated normally, you're focused on just trying to do the job and do it right. and get done in time to make the launch window. because if you miss it, you'll have to wait a few years. and suddenly, we had to start

thinking primarily about how to keep the team safe and their families safe. and how to get through these logistical challenges. we are quickly trying to understand the protective equipment and we had to bring in what kind of social distancing that we had to deal with. alhow any people could stand around the rover and how close could they be inside of a clean room. what kind of protection we got from her clean room card. were just struggling to understand if all of our support communities the companies could claim the garments. for clean room bring them nitrogen and for the thermal vacuum changes and whether not they will continue to deliver the things that we needed to keep going. and we had people here at jpl who had to travel to the space center we couldn't travel commercially so we had to ask for help from the headquarters in our friends at armstrong.

helped us with the transporting of an agency just back-and-forth. we got support, another nasa facility to fly some of our flight harbor there and back. this was a very challenging time. and then we had to figure out how to watch the thing and fly it when we had all of these constraints as well. we were modifying our protocols in our operation facilities. just very challenging. and i think the team might call if you out. they are worried about their parents or grandparents and just worried about their kids out of school and taking care of have kids at home and doing their work. and so it was a tough times.

we decided to market. we put in place, a covid-19 planes on the port side of the rover. with the vehicle. and you see the video their installing that plate janet kennedy space center. that plate is really there to not just our team was facing the challenges and everybody has been facing. it has been a tough year. it is been tough to do this mission. it under these conditions and under this environment. and the team like with every other challenges stepped up t ta freedom we have a lot of help from the institutions and agencies. and i think that is going to continue into the future so we can do this service mission. jennifer would you like to add anything. a. jennifer: we are not altogether.

and that is very unusual from landing and when we start operations, ken was talking about his phone going off . usually that would be a big meeting in one of the buildings in the laboratory we'll talk about the science of the mission and based on what we are what we want to do.is and largely on-site right now and the development was a struggle getting remote because these are complex systems. they take a lot of individual expertise. and they put it together in a way that we can operate a vehicle that we can build software that makes a vehicle work and doing all of that remotely was not as much interaction has been hard for the f team. we have the science team now, fully remote. and just like all of you guys, i've worked in my laundry room for several months and my kids are in zoom school they will walk in. and then people safe they can't hearing because the washer is going. everybody highlights these

challenges going on because this is not the way we typically would design it mars mission. with the team has been fantastic. and overcome every challenge. we actually have no robots on the floor where if you are remote that you want to go look at a room, you can log into one of the robots you can drive and run the floor and surface operations and go talk to the people. we have learned a lot about how to do things remotely. i think it is change how we think about the problem. but it is challenging. i look forward to the time and i think it will be a time when wer can all be together again . did not have all of the restrictions. i'm in a room by myself that the reason i am not wearing a mask . and one of the things that the team missed out on a little bit was the excitement and energy that comes from being altogether ready for the ending. so we were together but it was remotely. i think it will be fun and great for the team to be able to get

back together again we can do that. i think you jennifer. next call calls from the la times. reporter: thank you so much for taking my call. i have a couple of questions here. congratulations for unit that last question. i was wondering if these pandemic restrictions will affect how you guys deal with mars time. and also will in effect the experience of the rover driver. how will that be changing because of the pandemic. jennifer: will the mars plan question is great. the mars time obviously, we get up and then our clocks shift by 45 minutes every day. so when you're all here, in your

together, that kind of works . did that when you're sitting in your living room or in the small room in your house, if you need to be on telecom all night long planning the rover's sequences for the next day it may not work out for your spouse or your family. it so that it change in some cases, we had to create remote but on-site places for people to come to. we don't want together to any people together. we need to socially distant facilities. but we have a couple dozen people who are remote but still coming to the labs two different areas during the mars time so that they can not interfere with their family life which is not on mars time. ... ...

rover planters who cannot be on mars time can come and so it is different in different for the families and we will see how it works. we do have probably 50 people in here that when they were assigned they were at the facility and on counsel as using behind me. >> great. okay, thank you, jennifer. the next call comes from leo enright of irish tv. >> thanks very much. ase we say in the irish langua. [speaking in native tongue] to everybody involved particularly the people on the zoom screen and many congratulations. i have a very detailed geology question ready but jennifer

mentioned a robot that they are using to communicate and i wasn't quite clear about that so i thought i would ask about that a bit more.t you said you have a robot that can move and talk to people. >> i will clarify. it is robot you can log into and essentially drive it around in yourve face will be there and yu can zoom f up or drive up next o somebody that you want to talk to closer than 6 feet and have a conversation with them. ♪♪ >> no, it's a robot that moves around in a cantor member the actual maker or maybe somebody could help me out with that but it's a robot that we drive remotely around the floor and it

really just has wheels and a screen, it's a moving computer screen and maybe that's a better way to describe it. [laughter]mo >> could i do a follow-up? [crowd boos] sure, we can do that. >> things, i have a question for ken. ken, you know this zoom screen is fantastic because we are all used to the crowds coming in after a landing in the other tradition for a landing is the journalist with the geeky question so i just wanted to ask you could you clarify, have you landed [inaudible] and of that is where you have landed can you tell me whether you have looked at channel islands and the outcrop there that does appear to be adult of formation and

would you consider doing a quick run to channel islands rather than the long run over to the delta? >> jack, okay but let's clarify what is going on here. the science team has a associated specific earth location that happened to be national parks and preserves to specific regions and it is from those quadrangle's that we call them on earth that we will draw the names that we informally attach to features that we look at and we take observations of. we have, in fact, landed in the canyon and i'm not sure exactly where the feature that you are referring to is and i still think that our most likely ultimate destination is going to be to the west northwest and

that we will very likely go up to the delta front that you see right now that is in the upper left-hand corner. >> okay, we will end on a social media question. vince on youtube asks what is the landing today the best one so far? [laughter] i will ask matt that question first. >> yes, 100% it was the best one. you know, this is my fifth mars rover, jennifer and a handful of others of us on the project have worked you know, a number of these and there are all very, very special and i have to say. as of this moment right now this is the best landing on mars. >> alright, great. thank you. that's all the time we have for christians today but if you are a member of the media and he saw the question you can contact the jpled digital media office and e

will continue to answer questions on social media and tune in an online tomorrow and we will have another news briefing at 10:00 a.m. pacific time and give you another update about the start of the surface mission. if you want more updates you can also go online to nasa .gov / perseverance and mars . nasa .gov / perseverance for additional information and you can follow us on social media at nasa persevere. one last thing before we go i just want to say that if you want to welcome our latest robotics explorer to mars, mars will be visible in the night sky tonight and right next to the moon so have a look. thank you very much for joining us and go perseverance. [applause] >> in a few minutes we will be joining the virtual hearing of

the house science, space and technology committee on coronavirus vaccination efforts. until then and discussion from washington journal. >> host: next with us is clyde the president of the economic strategy institute and the author of the new book the world turned upside down, america, china and the struggle for global leadership. good morning and thank you for joining us speak. >> guest: good morning. >> host: we ask you about the new book so when did you start writing it? >> guest: i started writing it in the middle of february 2018 and i did so because of two facts. one, i have had a long or i have been addedat to now for 57 years working as a business executive and as a diplomat and as a trade negotiator and as a think take

scholar and asia. two, out of the clear blue sky i got a telephone call from the smith richardson foundation asking me if i would be interested to write something about how we should be dealing with china and i said yes. so i began in february and at a moment when u.s. policy was very much the same as it had been when i was in the reagan administration in 1982 and that is to say policy was what we call positive engagement and the idea was to negotiate with china and bring them into what we call the global systemti and hope tht economic development was result in china and political liberalization if not democratization. that policy added to change on march the first 2018 when the economist magazine