• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Advertise
  • About Us
    • Public Appearances
    • About The MHOTC Team
    • Disclaimers
  • Send Us Your Event Or Deal

Mile High on the Cheap

Your local resource for Denver freebies, discounts and deals

  • Entertainment
    & The Arts
    • Museum Memberships Guide
    • Museum Free Days
    • High School Theater
  • Food
    & Drink
    • Daily Specials
    • Kids Eat Free
    • Best Grocery Store Deals This Week
    • Free Food Pantries
    • Farmers’ Markets
    • Free Wine Tastings
  • Things
    To Do
    • This Weekend
    • Cheap Fun With Kids
    • Indoor Play Areas
    • Trivia Nights
    • Best Easy Hikes
    • Free & Cheap Tours in Denver
    • Best Things To Do
    • Entertainment
    • Family Activities
    • Sports & Recreation
    • Movie Previews Guide
  • Free
    & Cheap
    • Things To Do This Weekend
    • Free Things To Do This Week
    • Always Free
    • High School Theater
    • Free Museum Days
    • Cheap Fun With Kids
    • Indoor Play Areas
    • Free & Cheap Tours in Denver
  • Shopping
    New & Used
    • Garage Sales
    • Denver Thrift & Consignment Stores
    • King Soopers Shopping Guide
    • Safeway Shopping Guide
    • Walgreens Shopping Guide
  • Sports &
    Recreation
    • Best Easy Hikes Near Denver
    • Best Shaded Walks
  • Travel &
    Colorado
    • Cheap Gas
    • Denver Airport Parking & Transportation
    • A Day in Loveland
    • A Day in Littleton
    • 48 Hours in Colorado Springs
    • 48 Hours In Breckenridge
    • 48 Hours In Leadville
    • 48 Hours In Greeley
  • Services
    & Help
  • Calendars
    & Events
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • Cheap Gas
  • Kids Fun
    • Indoor Play Areas
    • Public Playgrounds
    • Kid-centric Attractions
  • Farmers’ Markets
  • High School Theater
  • Senior Deals
  • Bryan Blathers
← Best Deals On Valentine’s Day Essentials in Denver — Roses, Chocolates, Balloons & More!
Black History Month Events Across Town – Updated! →

NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Lands Today, Thursday. Here’s How To Watch Live!

POSTED BY
Laura

If you’re looking for something to do this Thursday, why not watch history being made? NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Thursday, February 18. Touchdown is schedule for approximately 1:55 p.m. MST. It’s been a long journey for the rover which launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Perseverance is the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to the Red Planet. It will collect carefully selected and documented rock and sediment samples for future return to Earth, search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterize the planet’s geology and climate, and pave the way for human exploration beyond the Moon.

Perseverance is also ferrying several cutting-edge technologies to the surface of Mars – including a helicopter named Ingenuity, the first aircraft to attempt powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Read on for a number of ways to watch the landing, the rover’s mission, as well as some pre and post landing events. There’s even a way to get a picture of yourself with a background of Mars or mission control.

This illustration depicts NASA’s Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars. Perseverance will land at the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater a little after 3:40 p.m. EST (1:40 p.m. MST) on Feb. 18, 2021. NASA/JPL-Caltech image

How to watch the Perseverance rover land on Mars

Live coverage with landing commentary from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California will begin at 12:15 p.m. MST, and you can watch on a number of platforms, including:

  • NASA TV Public Chanel
  • NASA website
  • NASA app
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

How will the Perseverance rover land on Mars?

An illustration of NASA’s Perseverance rover landing safely on Mars. Image from NASA/JPL-Caltech

During landing, the rover will plunge through the thin Martian atmosphere at more than 12,000 mph. A parachute and powered descent will slow the rover down to about 2 mph.

During what is known as the sky crane maneuver, the descent stage will lower the rover on three cables to land softly on six wheels at Jezero Crater.

Perseverance also is carrying a technology experiment – the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter – that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

You get to ride along

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission carries more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history, with 19 cameras on the rover itself and four on other parts of the spacecraft involved in entry, descent, and landing.

If all goes well, the public will be able to experience in high-definition what it’s like to land on Mars — and hear the sounds of landing for the first time with an off-the-shelf microphone affixed to the side of the rover.

Another microphone on SuperCam will help scientists understand the property of rocks the instrument is examining and can also listen to the wind.

United Launch Alliance photo

Perseverance’s mission

A key science objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life.

The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and will be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and sediment for later return to Earth.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

This mission is part of a larger NASA initiative that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of Mars.

NASA Virtual Guest Experience

NASA will provide a virtual guest experience for members of the public during landing, with notifications about mission updates, curated mission resources, and a virtual passport stamp available after landing.

Sign up for the Virtual Guest Experience.

More Ways to Experience Perseverance

Upload a picture to the Mars Perseverance Photo Booth and put yourself on Mars, or at mission control.

An alpaca roams Mars/photo from Charlotte on the Cheap

NASA televised event schedule for Perseverance landing

NASA TV will air a number of events leading up to, including, and following the landing. Please check NASA TV Schedule for any updates. Times below are Mountain Standard Time.

Wednesday, Feb. 17

  • 11 a.m. – News conference: Mission landing update
  • 1 p.m. – News conference: Searching for Ancient Life at Mars and in Samples Returned to Earth

Thursday, Feb. 18

  • 12:15 p.m. – Live landing Broadcast on the NASA TV Public Channel and online.
  • In addition, an uninterrupted clean feed of cameras from inside JPL Mission Control, with mission audio only, will be available starting at 12 noon on the NASA TV Media Channel, and at JPL’s Raw YouTube channel.
  • A 360-degree livestream of the Mars landing from inside mission control, including landing commentary, will be available at the JPL’s main YouTube channel.
  • 12:30 p.m. – “Juntos perseveramos,” the Spanis1h-language live landing commentary show, will air on NASA en Español’s YouTube channel.
  • Approximately 1:55 p.m. – Expected Perseverance touchdown on Mars
  • No earlier than 3:30 p.m. – Postlanding news conference

Friday, Feb. 19

  • 11 a.m. – News conference: Mission status update

Monday, Feb. 22

  • 12 p.m. – News conference: Mission status update

Posted by Laura on February 17, 2021 | Updated February 17, 2021 Filed Under: Things To Do

One comment on “NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Lands Today, Thursday. Here’s How To Watch Live!”

  1. Rachael on February 17, 2021 at 11:23 am said:

    I would totally watch the Mars Alpaca movie!

Primary Sidebar

Don’t Miss A Deal!

Join 29,000+ other bargain hunters and sign-up for our FREE daily e-newsletter.

Secondary Sidebar

——————————

Denver CityPASS
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2025 Mile High on the Cheap. Living On The Cheap® and On the Cheap® are registered trademarks owned by Living On The Cheap Inc. Site design by Five J's Design.
All the stories on our site are protected by copyright and any unauthorized copying is strictly prohibited. Plus, it is just not nice.