NASA launched a new rover, Perseverance, to Mars on a mission to scour the planet for evidence of ancient life.
The rover, which launched into orbit Thursday at 7:50 a.m. ET, is designed to study the geology and climate of Mars. NASA says the mission and its subsequent discoveries could lay the groundwork for eventual human exploration of the Red Planet.
Perseverance is loaded with seven scientific instruments to explore the Martian landscape and assess whether the planet was ever able to sustain life. The six-wheel rover is also carrying a small helicopter, dubbed Ingenuity, to perform experimental test flights in Mars’ thin atmosphere, which, if successful, would mark a milestone in powered flight.
The Perseverance rover launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Typically, crowds gather along beaches near Cape Canaveral to witness NASA launches, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the agency encouraged space fans to stay home and participate virtually, instead — particularly as new infections continue to surge in Florida and across the country.
NASA had a narrow 20-day launch window during which the orbits of Earth and Mars are optimally aligned. If the mission was delayed beyond that, because of the pandemic or otherwise, the agency would have had to wait for a year or two for the next opportunity, he said.
As a nod to the pandemic’s impact and the heroic actions of health care workers around the world, mission engineers attached a plate to the rover with an etched image depicting the spacecraft leaving Earth, with the planet sitting atop the medical symbol of a staff with a serpent entwined around it.
Perseverance is being targeted at a more-than 40km-wide, near-equatorial bowl called Jezero Crater. Satellite images suggest this held a lake billions of years ago.
Scientists say the rocks that formed in this environment stand a good chance of retaining evidence of past microbial activity – if ever that existed on the planet.
Perseverance will spend at least one Martian year (equivalent to roughly two Earth years) investigating the possibility.
Unlike the previous four rovers Nasa has sent to Mars, its new machine is equipped to directly detect life – either current or in fossilised form.
