![\"\"](\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/nhq202102180017.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPasadena, CA…The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55\u00a0p.m. EST (12:55\u00a0p.m. PST).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Packed with groundbreaking technology, the Mars 2020 mission\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover mission marks an ambitious first step in the effort to collect Mars samples and return them to Earth.<\/p>\n \u201cThis landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally \u2013 when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks,\u201d said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. \u201cThe Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nation\u2019s spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration. The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet in the 2030s.\u201d<\/p>\n About the size of a car, the 2,263-pound (1,026-kilogram) robotic geologist and astrobiologist will undergo several weeks of testing before it begins its two-year science investigation of Mars\u2019\u00a0Jezero Crater<\/a>. While the rover will investigate the rock and sediment of Jezero\u2019s ancient lakebed and river delta to characterize the region\u2019s geology and past climate, a fundamental part of its mission is\u00a0astrobiology<\/a>, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. To that end, the\u00a0Mars Sample Return<\/a>\u00a0campaign, being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), will allow scientists on Earth to study samples collected by Perseverance to search for definitive signs of past life using instruments too large and complex to send to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause of today\u2019s exciting events, the first pristine samples from carefully documented locations on another planet are another step closer to being returned to Earth,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA. \u201cPerseverance is the first step in bringing back rock and regolith from Mars. We don\u2019t know what these pristine samples from Mars will tell us. But what they could tell us is monumental \u2013 including that life might have once existed beyond Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 28 miles (45 kilometers) wide, Jezero Crater sits on the western edge of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin just north of the Martian equator. Scientists have determined that 3.5 billion years ago the crater had its own river delta and was filled with water.<\/p>\n The\u00a0power system<\/a>\u00a0that provides electricity and heat for Perseverance through its exploration of Jezero Crater is a\u00a0Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG<\/a>. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provided it to NASA through an ongoing partnership to develop power systems for civil space applications.<\/p>\n Equipped with seven\u00a0primary science instruments<\/a>, the most\u00a0cameras<\/a>\u00a0ever sent to Mars, and its exquisitely complex\u00a0sample caching system<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the first of its kind sent into space \u2013 Perseverance will scour the Jezero region for fossilized remains of ancient microscopic Martian life, taking samples along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cPerseverance is the most sophisticated\u00a0robotic geologist ever made, but verifying that microscopic life once existed carries an enormous burden of proof,\u201d said Lori Glaze, director of NASA\u2019s Planetary Science Division. \u201cWhile we\u2019ll learn a lot with the great instruments we have aboard\u00a0the rover, it may very well require the\u00a0far more capable laboratories and\u00a0instruments\u00a0back here on Earth to tell us whether our samples carry evidence that Mars once harbored life.\u201d<\/p>\n Paving the Way for Human Missions<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cLanding on Mars is always an incredibly difficult task and we are proud to continue building on our past success,\u201d said JPL Director Michael\u00a0Watkins. \u201cBut, while Perseverance advances that success, this rover is also blazing its own path and daring new challenges in the surface mission. We built the rover not just to land but to find and collect the best scientific samples for return to Earth, and its incredibly complex sampling system and autonomy not only enable that mission, they set the stage for future robotic and crewed missions.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2<\/a>) sensor suite collected data about Mars\u2019 atmosphere during entry, and the\u00a0Terrain-Relative Navigation<\/a>\u00a0system autonomously guided the spacecraft during final descent. The data from both are expected to help\u00a0future human missions<\/a>\u00a0land on other worlds more safely and with larger payloads.<\/p>\n On the surface of Mars, Perseverance\u2019s science instruments will have an opportunity to scientifically shine.\u00a0Mastcam-Z<\/a>\u00a0is a pair of zoomable science cameras on Perseverance\u2019s remote sensing mast, or head, that creates high-resolution, color 3D panoramas of the Martian landscape. Also located on the mast, the\u00a0SuperCam<\/a>\u00a0uses a pulsed laser to study the chemistry of rocks and sediment and has its own microphone to help scientists better understand the property of the rocks, including their hardness.<\/p>\n Located on a turret at the end of the rover\u2019s robotic arm, the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL<\/a>) and the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC<\/a>) instruments will work together to collect data on Mars\u2019 geology close-up. PIXL will use an X-ray beam and suite of sensors to delve into a rock\u2019s elemental chemistry. SHERLOC\u2019s ultraviolet laser and spectrometer, along with its Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON) imager, will study rock surfaces, mapping out the presence of certain minerals and organic molecules, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life on Earth.<\/p>\n The rover chassis is home to three science instruments, as well. The Radar Imager for Mars\u2019 Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX<\/a>) is the first ground-penetrating radar on the surface of Mars and will be used to determine how different layers of the Martian surface formed over time. The data could help pave the way for future sensors that hunt for subsurface water ice deposits.<\/p>\n Also with an eye on future Red Planet explorations, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE<\/a>) technology demonstration will attempt to manufacture oxygen out of thin air \u2013 the Red Planet\u2019s tenuous and mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere. The rover\u2019s Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA<\/a>) instrument, which has sensors on the mast and chassis, will provide key information about present-day Mars weather, climate, and dust.<\/p>\n Currently attached to the belly of Perseverance, the diminutive\u00a0Ingenuity Mars Helicopter<\/a>\u00a0is a technology demonstration that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.<\/p>\n Project engineers and scientists will now put Perseverance through its paces, testing every instrument, subsystem, and subroutine over the next month or two. Only then will they deploy the helicopter to the surface for the flight test phase. If successful, Ingenuity could add an aerial dimension to exploration of the Red Planet in which such helicopters serve as a scouts or make deliveries for future astronauts away from their base.<\/p>\n Once Ingenuity\u2019s test flights are complete, the rover\u2019s search for evidence of ancient microbial life will begin in earnest.<\/p>\n \u201cPerseverance is more than a rover, and more than this amazing collection of men and women that built it and got us here,\u201d said John McNamee, project manager of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission at JPL. \u201cIt is even more than the\u00a010.9 million people<\/a>\u00a0who signed up to be part of our mission. This mission is about what humans can achieve when they persevere. We made it this far. Now, watch us go.\u201d<\/p>\n More About the Mission<\/strong><\/p>\n A primary objective for Perseverance\u2019s mission on Mars is\u00a0astrobiology<\/a>\u00a0research, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet\u2019s geology and past climate and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA, will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.<\/p>\n The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA\u2019s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes\u00a0Artemis<\/a>\u00a0missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration for NASA.<\/p>\n For more about Perseverance:<\/p>\n https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/mars2020\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n and<\/p>\n