NASA Launches Mars Rover PERSEVERANCE

July 30, 2020

The latest NASA Mars Rover launched successfully today (July 30, 2020). Nearly seven months from today (Feb 18, 2021) Perseverance should land on Mars. When it does, there are a number of experiments scheduled.

But first….watch the really cool launch video below thanks to CNET. / NASA.

On Wikipedia, you can find all the info you want to know about Perseverance, but, really quickly, for those of you interested Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM /STEAM) below are few of the experiments / tasks scheduled.

I copied this from the Wikipedia article mentioned above:

“The Perseverance rover will explore a site likely to have been habitable. It will seek signs of past life, set aside a returnable cache with the most compelling rock core and soil samples, and demonstrate technology needed for the future human and robotic exploration of Mars. A key mission requirement is that it must help prepare NASA for its long-term Mars sample-return mission and crewed mission efforts.^[5][6][7] The rover will make measurements and technology demonstrations to help designers of a future human expedition understand any hazards posed by Martian dust, and will test technology to produce a small amount of pure oxygen (O
2) from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO
2).^[19] Improved precision landing technology that enhances the scientific value of robotic missions also will be critical for eventual human exploration on the surface.^[20] Based on input from the Science Definition Team, NASA defined the final objectives for the 2020 rover. Those become the basis for soliciting proposals to provide instruments for the rover’s science payload in the spring of 2014.^[19] The mission will also attempt to identify subsurface water, improve landing techniques, and characterize weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.^[21]“