The science rover Perseverance of NASA landed on the Red Planet (MARS) on February 18, 2021. This rover is the most advanced astrobiology laboratory that has been ever sent another planet. It will firstly search the traces of ancient microbial life on the Planet.
Highlights
- The rover sailed through space for nearly seven months.
- It covered the distance of 293 million miles or 472 million km before entering to the Martian atmosphere.
- It entered the MARS with a speed of 12,000 miles per hour or 19,000 km per hour.
- The most challenging part of the robotic vehicle was its self-guided descent and landing during a complex series of maneuver. It was called as ‘seven minutes of terror’ by NASA.
- The project is worth $2.7 billion.
- It was launched with the primary aim of launching the bechioenis in order to search for possible fossilized signs of microbes.
MARS 2020 Mission
It is a Mars rover built by Mars Exploration Program of NASA. It comprises of the Perseverance rover and an Ingenuity helicopter drone. The mission was launched on an Atlas V 541 launch vehicle from Earth on July 30, 2020. The mission was announced by NASA in December 2012 during a fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union at San Francisco.
Perseverance rover
The rover will observe the astro-biologically relevant ancient environment on the planet. It will also look after its surface geological processes and history. The rover will also do the assessment of past habitability and possibility of past life on it. The design of the rover is influenced from the Curiosity rover. It uses components that have been already fabricated and tested. It comprises of 19 cameras and two microphones. Thus, it will also record the audio of the environment on MARS.