STAGE 01 - LOW EARTH ORBIT
EARTH
ORBIT
Final systems checks complete in low Earth orbit. Solar arrays are fully deployed and drawing power, while onboard navigation locks onto a faint red point on the horizon - the start of a 480-million-kilometre journey.
PHASE 02
DEPARTURE
BURN
Engines ignite to break Earth orbit and commit to the transfer trajectory
STAGE 03 - INTERPLANETARY TRANSIT
DEEP SPACE
CRUISE
For months the spacecraft coasts through the vacuum between worlds - running on solar power, correcting its course in small increments as Mars grows from a point of light into a planet.
STAGE 04 - MARS APPROACH
ATMOSPHERIC
ENTRY
The spacecraft threads a narrow entry corridor into the thin Martian atmosphere, using its own shape to shed velocity before the engines take over for a controlled descent.
PHASE 05
POWERED
DESCENT
Main engine reignites for a precision-guided descent toward the surface
STAGE 06 - TOUCHDOWN
SURFACE
LANDING
Dust settles across a valley of iron-red stone as the spacecraft comes to rest. The next chapter of exploration begins on the surface of another world.