NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars

On Feb. 18, NASA's Perseverance Mars rover touched down on the Red Planet after a seven-month flight from Earth. Only the fifth rover to land on the planet, Perseverance represents a giant leap forward in our scientific and technological capabilities for exploring Mars and the possibility that life may have once existed on the Red Planet.

Here, you will:

• Meet the Perseverance Mars rover and find out what it's designed to do.
• Learn about an exciting opportunity to get your classroom, educational organization, or household involved with the Mission to Mars Student Challenge.

You might be wondering, "Isn't there already a rover on Mars?” The answer is yes! The Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012 and has spent its time on the Red Planet making fascinating discoveries about the planet's geology and environment – setting the stage for Perseverance. So, why send another rover to Mars? The lessons we’ve learned from Curiosity coupled with advancements in technology over the last decade are allowing us to take the next big steps in our exploration of Mars, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life, collecting rock samples to bring to Earth one day, and setting the stage for a potential future human mission to the Red Planet.

More specifically, the Perseverance Mars rover has four science objectives:

• Identify past environments on Mars that could have supported microbial life
• Seek signs of ancient microbial life within the rocks and soil using a new suite of scientific instruments
• Collect rock samples of interest to be stored on the surface for possible return by future missions
• Pave the way for human exploration beyond the Moon

With these science objectives in mind, let's take a look at how the mission is designed to achieve these goals – from its science-rich landing site, Jezero Crater, to its suite of onboard tools and technology.

This is what makes Perseverance's landing site in Jezero Crater such a compelling location for scientific exploration. The crater was originally formed by an ancient meteorite impact about 3.8 billion years ago, and it sits within an even larger, older impact basin. The crater also appears to have once been home to an ancient lake fed by a river that formed the delta where Perseverance will begin its exploration, by exploring the foot of the river delta.

Perseverance will begin its scientific exploration with the assistance of an array of tools, also known as science instruments.

Like its predecessor, Perseverance will have a number of cameras – 23, in fact! – serving as the eyes of the rover for scientists and engineers back on Earth. Nine of these cameras are dedicated to mobility, or tracking the rover's movements; six will capture images and videos as the rover travels through the Martian atmosphere down to the surface, a process known as entry, descent, and landing; and seven are part of the science instrumentation.

Rounding out its role as a roving geologist on wheels, Perseverance also has instruments for studying beneath the surface of Mars. An instrument called the Radar Imager of Mars Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) will use ground-penetrating radar to analyze depths down to about 100 feet (30 meters) below the surface. Mounted on the rear of the rover, RIMFAX will help us understand geological features that can't be seen by the other cameras and instruments.

The rover's suite of instruments demonstrates how multiple scientific disciplines – chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and engineering – work in concert to further our understanding of Mars and help scientists uncover whether life ever existed on the Red Planet.

At NASA, scientists and engineers are always looking to push the envelope and, while missions such as Perseverance are ambitious in themselves, they also provide an opportunity for NASA to test new technology that could be used for future missions. Two excellent examples of such technology joining Perseverance on Mars are MOXIE and the first ever Mars helicopter, Ingenuity.

MOXIE stands for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment. Operating at 800 degrees Celsius, MOXIE takes in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the thin Martian atmosphere and splits those molecules into pure oxygen using what is called a catalyst. A catalyst is a chemical that allows for reactions to take place under conditions they normally wouldn’t. MOXIE provides an incredible opportunity for NASA to create something usable out of the limited resources available on Mars. Over the duration of the rover's mission, MOXIE will run for a total of one hour every time it operates, distributed over the course of the prime mission timeframe, to determine whether it can reliably produce breathable oxygen. The goal of operating this way is to allow scientists to determine the performance across a variety of environmental conditions that a dedicated, human-mission-sized oxygen plant would see during operations - day versus night, winter versus summer, etc. Oxygen is of great interest for future missions not just because of its necessity for future human life support on Mars, but also because it can be used as a rocket propellant, perhaps allowing for future small-scale sample return missions to Earth.

The Mars Ingenuity helicopter is likewise an engineering first. It is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on Mars. Because the Martian atmosphere is so thin, flight is incredibly difficult. So, the four-pound (1.8-kilogram), solar powered helicopter is specially designed with two, four-foot (1.2-meter) long counter-rotating blades that spin at 2,400 rotations per minute. In the months after Perseverance lands, Ingenuity will drop from the belly of the rover. If all goes well, it will attempt test flights of increasing difficulty, covering incrementally greater heights and distances for about 30 days. In the future, engineers hope flying robots can allow for a greater view of the surrounding terrain for robotic and human missions alike.

The process of landing on Mars with such an advanced mission is no doubt an exciting opportunity to engage students across all aspects of STEM – and NASA wants to help teachers, educators and families bring students along for the adventure with the Mission to Mars Student Challenge. This challenge will lead students through designing and building a mission to Mars with a guided education plan and resources from NASA, listening to expert talks, and sharing student work with a worldwide audience.

Learn more about the challenge and explore additional education resources related to the Perseverance Mars rover mission at https://go.nasa.gov/mars-challenge

The next chapter of Perseverance’s journey takes place on Feb. 18 at 12 p.m. PST (3 p.m. EST), when the mission reaches Mars after seven months of travelling through space. Join NASA as we countdown to landing with online events for teachers, students, and space enthusiasts! The landing day broadcast can be seen on NASA TV and the agency's website starting at 11:15 a.m. PST (2:15 p.m. EST). For a full listing of online events leading up to and on landing day, visit the mission's Watch Online page.

Follow landing updates on NASA's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.