For Las Vegas, the touchdown of NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars was a source of both national and community pride.

With the safe landing of NASA’s Perseverance rover Thursday afternoon on the surface of Mars, two scientists at UNLV will get to take part in the ultimate in distance learning, as members of the NASA team hoping to answer the question, is there, or has there been life on the red planet.

NASA made history Thursday afternoon as the Perseverance rover landed on Mars, and two professors at UNLV played a part in it.

Two UNLV scientists working on NASA’s new mission to Mars survived “seven minutes of terror” Thursday as they watched the Perseverance rover’s perilous but perfect landing on the red planet.

Two UNLV scientists working on NASA's new mission to Mars survived the "seven minutes of terror" Thursday as they watched the dangerous but perfect landing of the Perseverance rover on the red planet.

It's a big day for exploration on Mars!

Originally from Valais, the Swiss Arya Udry is associate professor in planetology and martian geology at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. At 33, she is one of the researchers who will work alongside NASA on the Perseverance rover , which is due to land on the Red Planet this Thursday, February 18 at 9:55 p.m. Swiss time. This enthusiast explains to Heidi.news the hopes that the mission represents for her scientific field, Martian geology. To find in video (above), and in long version in the text below.

When Arya Udry was a little girl, she would stare at the sky and ponder the possibility of life beyond Earth.