Nasa’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars

After a seven-month journey of around 470 million kilometres, Nasa’s Perseverance rover has landed on Mars. The ambitious mission hopes to find some fossil evidence of micro-organisms.

Also in the programme: we’ll hear from Afghanistan after NATO decided there needed to be a reduction in violence before more foreign troops could be withdrawn; and as power cuts and water shortages continue in Texas, which is in the middle of a winter storm, officials warn it could take weeks before supplies are fully restored. What went wrong?

(Photo: an artist impression issued by NASA of the Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/PA Wire).