Late last week, people were glued to NASA’s live stream as the Perseverance rover finally landed on Mars after 7 months since they launched the Mars 2020 mission. Everyone’s hoping that this is a big step towards more space exploration in the future. Google is celebrating this momentous occasion with several digital goodies for people to enjoy. There are virtual fireworks, a special exhibit on Google Arts & Culture, and a detailed 3D model of Perseverance that you can place in your space through augmented reality.
First up, if you look for Perseverance on Google Search, you’ll be greeted with some animated fireworks display that will show up in your search results. If you were just searching for the word “perseverance”, you might be a little confused as to why Google is celebrating you as you try to find what the meaning of the word is. But of course you’ll see in the search results news and articles about the Mars 2020 mission and what Perseverance and the fireworks mean.
Over on the always-underrated Google Arts & Culture app, there’s an exhibition about the Mars 2020 mission where you can get an in-depth look at their project including history, goals, and the technology behind it. There are sections about the pre-launch, the actual launch, the Cruise phase, the approach, and then the “most intense phase” of the mission, the Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL). You can full-on geek out about all the aspects of the mission and Perseverance.
You also get a 3D model of Perseverance on the Arts and Culture app where you can view it from different angles. You can turn it around, zoom in on some of the parts, and explore the rover. You can also place the rover in your space by tapping the “View in Augmented Reality” button, just like you would with the popular 3D animals in Google Search. You will get a feel of how big the rover really is by turning your space into one.
We don’t know until when these digital goodies will last though so you might as well enjoy them while they’re still here. You can find them on Google Search and on the Google Arts & Culture app.
