On Feb. 18, after a seven-month trek, Perseverance landed on Mars. Costing more than $2 billion, this is the fifth rover NASA has sent to the Red Planet. Of its predecessors, only Curiosity, launched in 2011, remains operational. As images poured in, the very first sound recordings were being transmitted to mission control. Perseverance captured its landing as well, thanks to a breathtaking high-definition video that gives an eyewitness account of its slow and cautious descent. Needless to say, astrophysicists were elated, and many others, science buffs and laymen alike. Long before Mars was the subject of media hype, it…