Perseverance Mars Rover Launched

On July 30, 2020, NASA launched the Perseverance rover scheduled to land on Mars on February 18, 2021. It will land in Jezero Crater which is thought to have filled with water creating a lake in the ancient past (a couple billions years ago, I think). This makes it a prime target to look for evidence of microbial life.

The rover will take several soil samples and place them in tubes, leave them on the surface for future missions to Mars to collect the samples and return them to Earth. Looks like the target date (earliest) for this would be 2031. Of course, if they are successfully returned to Earth and they actually this time find good evidence of past life there, that would be a huge, history making discovery. So it’s an important mission in that regard.

The rover also will deploy a 4 lb. helicopter controlled by the rover itself (signals from Mars to Earth take, what, 4 minutes one way or something?, So no controlling it from Earth with a joystick).

It will carry cameras as usual, but also two microphones which is a first.

For more info:

Mars 2020 Mission Overview NASA

NASA, ULA Launch Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission to Red Planet

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