When NASA's Perseverance rover goes through the "seven minutes of terror" to land itself on Mars Feb. 18, you can sit back, watch the NASA coverage and relax.
It's not every day that NASA lands an SUV-size rover on Mars. The last rover to land on Mars was Curiosity in 2012; the stationary InSight lander touched down in 2018.
To mark the rare occasion, Krispy Kreme is offering a limited-edition themed doughnut — only available on Thursday.
The Mars doughnut will look like the red planet itself.
The caramel-dipped and chocolate cream-filled doughnut is topped with a swirl that resembles Mars, and it's even sprinkled with chocolate cookie crumbs for that authentic dusty Martian touch.
If you submitted your name during NASA's "Send Your Name to Mars" campaign, which put almost 11 million names on the rover before it departed for its journey to Mars, bring your "boarding pass" to Krispy Kreme and your Mars Doughnut is free.
"The landing of Perseverance on Mars will be an epic and important achievement," said Dave Skena, Krispy Kreme chief marketing officer, in a statement. "So, we're celebrating the best way we know how: with an amazing new doughnut discovery right here on earth."
's Mars doughnut celebrates NASA's Perseverance rover and its upcoming landing on Mars.
Landing day: What to know
Perseverance, which is NASA's most sophisticated rover to date, is expected to land on the surface of Mars around 3:55 p.m. ET on Thursday.
The rover has been traveling through space since launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at the end of July. When it reaches Mars, Perseverance will have traveled 292.5 million miles on its journey from Earth.
Perseverance is NASA's first mission that will search for signs of ancient life on another planet to help answer the big question: Was life ever present on Mars?
The rover will explore Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake that existed 3.9 billion years ago, and search for microfossils in the rocks and soil there.
Along for the ride with Perseverance is an experiment to fly a helicopter, called Ingenuity, on another planet for the first time.
The team at NASA is inviting the world to tune in to its countdown and landing commentary, which will stream live beginning on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. ET. Tune in via NASA's public TV channel, website, app, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion or THETA.TV. In a first, the agency will also offer a Spanish language show for the landing.
During the landing coverage, NASA's mission control team will be able to confirm if the rover safely landed on the surface of Mars.
Naturally, the rover has its own Twitter and Facebook accounts, where you can expect updates from the mission team from the perspective of the rover. And you can bet the Curiosity rover and InSight lander will be welcoming Perseverance to their home, the red planet.
The agency has fun ways to participate in the countdown excitement, like photo booths and activities for kids and students. You can also follow every step of the rover's landing through a NASA interactive or sign up for a virtual experience of the landing.
11 of Opportunity's most amazing images from 15 years of roaming Mars
FILE - This illustration made available by NASA shows the rover Opportunity on the surface of Mars. The exploratory vehicle landed on Jan. 24, 2004, and logged more than 28 miles (45 kilometers) before falling silent during a global dust storm in June 2018. There was so much dust in the Martian atmosphere that sunlight could not reach Opportunity's solar panels for power generation. (NASA via AP)
This 360-degree panorama is one of the first images beamed back to Earth from the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shortly after it touched down at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The unmanned, six-wheeled rover landed at 9:05 p.m. PST Saturday Jan. 24, 2004, in Meridiani Planum, NASA said. The image was captured by the rover's navigation camera. (AP Photo/NASA)
FILE - This photo released Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004 made by one of the rear hazard-avoidance cameras on NASA's Opportunity rover, shows Opportunity's landing platform, with freshly made tracks leading away from it. Opportunity rolled about 11 feet on Thursday, the first day it has moved since it left the lander on Saturday. Engineers commanded Opportunity to turn slightly during the drive, to test how it steers while rolling through the martian soil. (NASA/JPL via AP)
This photo made available by NASA on Aug. 6, 2004, shows sand dunes less than 1 meter (3.3 feet) high in the "Endurance Crater" on the planet Mars, seen by the Opportunity rover. (NASA/JPL/Cornell via AP)
This image sent by NASA's Opportunity rover on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015, shows a view from atop a hill on Mars. (NASA via AP)
FILE - This composite of March 2015 photos made available by NASA shows a shallow crater called Spirit of St. Louis, about 110 feet (34 meters) long and about 80 feet (24 meters) wide, with a floor slightly darker than surrounding terrain. The rocky feature toward the far end of the crater is about 7 to 10 feet (2 to 3 meters) tall, rising higher than the crater's rim. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University via AP)
This March 31, 2016, photo made available by NASA shows a dust devil in a valley on Mars, seen by the Opportunity rover perched on a ridge. The view looks back at the rover's tracks leading up the north-facing slope of "Knudsen Ridge," which forms part of the southern edge of "Marathon Valley." (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This March 22, 2016, photo made available by NASA shows the shadow and wheel tracks of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity just after a drive on a slope above Endeavour Crater. The image has been rotated 13.5 degrees to adjust for the tilt of the rover on a hillside. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This Jan. 5, 2016, photo made available by NASA shows the tool turret at the end of the the Opportunity rover's robotic arm on the southern side of "Marathon Valley," which goes through the western rim of Endeavour Crater. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This composite of May 2017 photos made available by NASA shows "Perseverance Valley" which just on the other side of the dip in the crater rim as seen by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity, in preparation for driving down into the valley. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
This October 2017 photo made available by NASA shows an enhanced-color view of ground sloping downward to the right in "Perseverance Valley," seen by the Opportunity rover on Mars. The textures may be due to abrasion by wind-driven sand. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/Arizona State University via AP)
In this Feb. 15, 2018, photo made available by NASA, the sun rises as seen by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. This is a processed, approximately true-color scene. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University/Texas A&M via AP)
