Nasa's Perseverance rover has landed on Mars - here's how long it took to get there

Nasa’s Mars Perseverance rover has safely landed on the red planet and sent back images, marking an “amazing accomplishment”, the space agency announced.

Its mission is to search for signs of ancient life, and explore and collect samples for future return to Earth from diverse environments on Mars.

After the rover entered the Martian atmosphere there were “seven minutes of terror” as it made its way to the surface. It took more than 11 minutes for news of the safe landing to reach Earth.

But just how long does it take to cross the blackness of the Solar System to reach the Red Planet from our own?

How far away is Mars?

The distance between Earth and Mars - while relatively small given the unimaginable scope of the universe - is huge.

The differing orbits of the planets around the Sun mean that the Red Planet’s distance from Earth can alter dramatically, but even at its closest, Mars still sits roughly 36 million miles away.

How long did Perseverance take to get there?

Perseverance's took seven months.

The Perseverance rover lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 30 July at 7:50 am EDT (12:50pm BST) beginning its voyage to the Red Planet.

It made its way across the vastness of space towards Mars, aiming for a landing in the planet's Jezero Crater, an area which scientists believe could be rich in preserved organic molecules and other signs of microbial life.

What is the purpose of the mission?

Now landed, the Perseverance rover will search for signs of ancient microbial life, characterise the planet's geology and climate, collect carefully selected and documented rock and sediment samples for return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration.

Perseverance will also ferry a separate technology experiment to the surface of Mars, a helicopter named Ingenuity - the first aircraft to fly in a controlled way on another planet.

Loaded with scientific instruments, advanced computational capabilities for landing and other new systems, Perseverance is also the largest, heaviest robotic Mars rover Nasa has built.

Where did it land?

The first couple of images from the rover showed a flat, rocky surface, and were met with a second round of cheers as mission control celebrated the achievement.