Scientists from the south celebrate as Mars rover lands
Video report by ITV Meridian reporter Chloe Oliver
Experts at the UK Space Station at Swindon have been celebrating the part they played in helping to develop the technology that made NASA's mission possible.
Over the next decade, geologists at Southampton University will look at sand and rock samples from the red planet to help research possibilities of alien life
After years of planning, and 7 months in orbit, it took just 7 nail biting minutes for the robot to descend on Mars.
Last July, the NASA rover, called perseverance, took off from Florida on its 300 million mile exploration.
That finally ended on Thursday night at 9pm UK time, when it landed on the surface of Mars.
Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration, UK Space Agency
Geologists at the University of Southampton have been eagerly following its journey and say this is only the beginning.
This weekend, images will be beamed back to earth to help uncover one of the world's greatest unknowns; what life is really like on mars.