A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch to Mars arrives at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket scheduled to launch on Thursday will land on Mars in February 2021 and the Mars 2020 rover, named Perseverance, will study Martian geology. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
NASA's rover Perseverance is on the verge liftoff. Perseverance will look for evidence of past microscopic life on Mars in an ancient lake. It will also gather some promising rock samples for future pickup. NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to return the samples to Earth around 2031. This mission which will involve multiple launches and spacecraft costs more than $8 billion. The United States remains the only country to land successfully at Mars. If all goes well next February, Perseverance will become the ninth U.S. spacecraft to operate on the Martian surface.
Indiatvnews.com brings to you a few glimpse of the smartest rover Perseverance:
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands ready for launch on pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send the Mars rover named Perseverance, to study the red planet. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch to Mars arrives at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket scheduled to launch on Thursday will land on Mars in February 2021 and the Mars 2020 rover, named Perseverance, will study Martian geology. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
In this May 20, 2020 photo made available by NASA/JPL-Caltech, engineers and technicians insert sample tubes into the belly of the Perseverance Mars rover at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is upping the ante with its newest rover headed to Mars. Set to rocket away this week from Florida, Perseverance is NASA's brawniest and brainiest Martian rover yet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket stands ready for launch on pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send the Mars rover named Perseverance, to study the red planet. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
This illustration made available by NASA depicts the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter on the red planet's surface near the Perseverance rover, left. NASA is upping the ante with its newest rover headed to Mars. Set to rocket away this week from Florida, Perseverance is NASA's brawniest and brainiest Martian rover yet. (NASA/JPL-Caltech via AP)
In this Dec. 17, 2019, file photo made available by NASA, engineers watch the first driving test for the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance. in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. NASA has delayed the launch of its newest Mars rover yet again because of rocket issues. The space agency has until mid-August to send the Perseverance rover to the red planet to look for signs of ancient microscopic life, before having to wait until 2022. Managers are now targeting no earlier than July 30 for liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, eating up half of the month-long launch window. (J. Krohn/NASA via AP, File)
Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California work with Ingenuity during its development, a years-long process that was aided by some of the agency’s experts in rotor dynamics.
