Mars Explorer 2020 Launch
A new Mars Rover named Perseverance will land on the surface of Mars in February 2221, after a seven-month flight through space.
Attached to the underbelly of the space craft will be a small helicopter named Ingenuity. Ingenuity will be able to overcome Mars gravity and fly over the surface of Mars like a drone and return visual images. This will be the first test of powered flight on Mars.
The purpose of the mission will be to investigate key questions about the possible existence of life on Mars. Perseverance will examine the past Martian environment and look for signs of ancient microbes amongst the intriguing rocks of a crater named Jezero.
The robotic machine will drill into the rocks and collect soil samples using new technology. After examining the samples, it will set them aside so that a future mission will be able to bring them back to Earth.
All Earthlings interested in Mars and Martians are invited by NASA to virtually watch the Launch of Perseverance – Click HERE to register.
The Mars 2020 launch event will commence at 7:50am on Thu, 30 Jul 2020 US EDT. [Thu, Jul 30, 2020, 9:50 PM AEST in Australia]