Perseverance rover snaps first Mars photos after communications blackout. They're stunning.

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The car-sized robot, and NASA's other Mars craft, had to stand down recently because the Red Planet went behind the sun.

NASA's Perseverance rover captured this shot of its surroundings on the floor of Jezero Crater on Oct. 22, 2021, using one of its navigation cameras. Mission team members posted the image on Twitter three days later.
NASA's Perseverance rover captured this shot of its surroundings on the floor of Jezero Crater on Oct. 22, 2021, using one of its navigation cameras. Mission team members posted the image on Twitter three days later. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU via Twitter)

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has emerged from its first "solar conjunction" blackout and gotten back to work on the Red Planet. It's even phoned home with its first Mars photos since reawakening.

The car-sized Perseverance and other Mars spacecraft had to stand down for about two weeks recently when the Red Planet slipped behind the sun from Earth's perspective. In this alignment, known as solar conjunction, our star can corrupt commands sent from Earth to Mars, so NASA and other space agencies don't take the chance.

But Mars has come back into view for mission controls around the world, including that of Perseverance, which is based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. So the six-wheeled robot has woken up and resumed exploring Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) hole in the ground that hosted a lake and a river delta billions of years ago.

Related: Where to find the latest Mars photos from NASA's Perseverance rover

Another photo taken by one of the Mars rover Perseverance’s navigation cameras on Oct. 22, 2021. Mission team members also posted the image on Twitter on Oct. 25, 2021.

Another photo taken by one of the Mars rover Perseverance’s navigation cameras on Oct. 22, 2021. Mission team members posted the image on Twitter on Oct. 25, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

"I’m back to work, parked between these two beautiful outcrops. Been doing some imaging, weather studies, chemistry experiments and getting a software update too," mission team members wrote on Monday (Oct. 25) via Perseverance's official Twitter account.

That post included two gorgeous recent photos of the terrain that Perseverance is traversing. The rover has snapped many more as well since waking up, and you can find them here.

Related stories:

—In photos: NASA's Mars Perseverance rover on the Red Planet
—Perseverance rover confirms existence of ancient Mars lake and river delta
—Bringing pieces of Mars to Earth in 2031: How NASA and Europe will do it

Perseverance touched down on Feb. 18, tasked primarily with hunting for signs of ancient Mars life and collecting dozens of samples for future return to Earth. The rover has already socked away two tubes of pristine Mars material, getting humanity's first interplanetary sample-return effort well and truly underway.

Perseverance landed with a tiny helicopter buddy named Ingenuity, which was designed to show that aerial exploration is feasible on the Red Planet. Ingenuity is also back in action, completing its 14th Martian flight on Sunday (Oct. 24).

After its first five technology-demonstrating flights, Ingenuity shifted into an extended mission designed to showcase the scouting potential of Martian rotorcraft. The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper has recently been scouting terrain for Perseverance, which has driven 1.66 miles (2.67 kilometers) on Jezero's floor to date.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

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Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.