A Michigan native was part of the team that helped NASA's Perseverance rover touchdown on Mars last week. Terry Himes grew up in Grand Ledge and has had a love for science since he was a kid.

According to Fox News, Himes is an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His role in the recent mission included relay systems, which collects data. This isn't the first mission he's helped with, he's been involved in thirty others, as well.

Every event like this is incredibly exciting. The anticipation is huge because you work on these missions for many, many, many years.

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It took about ten years to develop the rover and seven months to get it to Mars. It's unlike any other rover, it has high-resolution image and captures the images in color.  The mission is to discover whether there's been signs of life on Mars. The rover is basically a geologist, characterizing the planets geology and past climates.

Basically, it's a roaming geologist. So, it's going to be looking at what is there now. Was there life in the past? Can we detect any organics whatsoever, and if we do, it's a huge game-changer.

On Monday, NASA released an official video of the Perseverance rover's touch down on Mars.

There's a need for young minds interested in science and technology. NASA associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, says younger generations are a crucial part of our future.

It should become mandatory viewing for young women and men who not only want to explore other worlds and build the spacecraft that will take them there, but also want to be part of the diverse teams achieving all the audacious goals in our future.

 

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