NASA to Launch the Next Era of Mars Exploration with the Perseverance Rover.

The Perseverance Rover and Sample Return Mission is the Next Step in NASA’s Journey Toward Mars. Credit: NASA.

In July 2020, NASA is launching the next era of Mars Exploration with the Perseverance Rover. The Perseverance Rover, formally known as Mars 2020, will make the eight-month journey to Mars and kick off a multi-decade long effort to collect and return samples from the Red Planet in the search for life. Perseverance is the first part of a three mission Mars Sample Return Program that will collect, launch, and return geologic samples that might just contain evidence of past life on Mars. The three missions of sample return will first collect and cache the samples (the job of the Perseverance Rover), then the second mission will launch a rocket to Mars to collect this sample cache and launch it into Mars orbit for safekeeping and easy of capture, the third mission will rendezvous with these samples in Mars orbit and rocket them back to Earth for study. We are on the verge of the launch of the first step of this ambitious effort with the Perseverance Rover.

The three mission plan that will return samples from Mars. Credit: Nature/Images of Earth and Mars surface: NASA.

NASA has been exploring Mars for decades, ever since the Mariner 4 spacecraft flew by the planet in 1965. In that time, we have mapped the surface, identified the minerals, and unlocked the history…