What is the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover?

On July 30, 2020, Perseverance launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida to take a quick trip to Mars. On the scale of the Solar System, a “quick trip” takes almost a year. The other day, on February 18, 2021, Perseverance landed on Mars.

(Not the Perseverance, but a cool picture of another Mars rover.

According to NASA’s website, the main job of Perseverance is to “Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.” COOL.

Signs of life? On Mars???

Not, like, people. Or animals even. However, scientists have found some really cool stuff on Mars in the last couple of decades that could mean there is - or was - life. Most notably, Mars may not have been as cold, dry, and uninhabitable as it is now. There may have been water, and where there’s water, there can be life. If Mars had suitable conditions for developing life, for a long enough period of time, small microbes may have developed.

Perseverance will be collecting samples of rocks and soil to see what the conditions on Mars were a long time ago and whether there is any evidence of life.

NASA has also sent some other cool technology for Perseverance to test out, which might make it easier to get humans on Mars in the future. For example, there is a device that might be able to process Mars’ atmosphere to create oxygen for astronauts to breathe. There’s also a space helicopter they want to try out.

Not quite Marvin the Martian, but still pretty cool.

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Wondering what it would be like to be stranded on Mars? Try Andy Weir’s hilarious-but-scientifically-accurate novel, The Martian.

You can also get a build-your-own Perseverance rover kit and t-shirt.

(Not-affiliate) Sources:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

https://mars.nasa.gov/files/mars2020/Mars2020_Fact_Sheet.pdf