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Google search celebrates landing of NASA's Perseverance on Mars

The rover's landing on Mars leads to fireworks on Google.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
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Google celebrates the Perseverance landing in Mars.

 Google

If you're searching for news about Perseverance, NASA's latest Mars rover, Google has a treat for you to help celebrate the rover's successful landing on the red planet.

The one-ton mobile laboratory made a slow descent Thursday afternoon to an ancient lake bed on Mars, ending an episode in the mission dubbed "the seven minutes of terror" because a lot of things can go wrong during the arrival that would derail the mission. Perseverance landed at the Jezero Crater, which is believed to have once been covered with water, perhaps representing a site where proof of life might be found.

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The mission heralds a new era in Mars exploration, and to celebrate the successful touchdown, Google set off fireworks – on its search engine, that is. A simple search for Perseverance will launch an Easter egg of virtual pyrotechnics to your search results page.

While the Perseverance mission is scheduled to last for one Mars year – the equivalent to about 687 Earth days – there's no saying how long Google's celebration will stick around, so go check out the show while we await something that might really knock our socks off.