The picture shows the rover about six-and-a-half feet off the ground and moments before landing, suspended on nylon cables from a jetpack-like device known as the Skycrane.
After plummeting through the Martian atmosphere for about seven minutes, the Skycrane’s eight rocket engines slowed the rover down to a leisurely 1.7mph.
Perseverance was then lowered to the ground while Skycrane detached and flew off to crash at a safe distance.
Flight systems engineer Aaron Stehura said: “This is something that we’ve never seen before. It was stunning, and the team was awestruck.
“There’s just a feeling of victory that we were able to capture these and share it with the world.”
