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Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020

The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.

Visit Mission Website
Perseverance Foreground

Mission Statistics

Time on Mars

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Type

Lander/Rover

Target

Mars

Status

Current

About the mission

The Mars 2020 mission with its Perseverance rover is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key Astrobiology questions about the potential for life on Mars.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover will investigate a region of Mars where the ancient environment may have been favorable for microbial life, probing the Martian rocks for evidence of past life. Throughout its investigation, it will collect samples of soil and rock, and cache them on the surface for potential return to Earth by a future mission.

Perseverance will carry an entirely new subsystem to collect and prepare Martian rocks and soil samples that includes a coring drill on its arm and a rack of sample tubes. About 30 of these sample tubes will be deposited at select locations for return on a potential future sample-retrieval mission. In laboratories on Earth, specimens from Mars could be analyzed for evidence of past life on Mars and possible health hazards for future human missions.

Two science instruments mounted on the rover's robotic arm will be used to search for signs of past life and determine where to collect samples by analyzing the chemical, mineral, physical and organic characteristics of Martian rocks. On the rover's mast, two science instruments will provide high-resolution imaging and three types of spectroscopy for characterizing rocks and soil from a distance, also helping to determine which rock targets to explore up close.

The Perseverance rover will use the same sky crane landing system as Curiosity, but will have the ability to land in more challenging terrain with two enhancements, making more rugged sites eligible as safe landing candidates. Payload Instrument(s)


Instruments

  • Mastcam-Z
  • SuperCam
  • Planetary Instrument for X-RAY Lithochemistry (PIXL)
  • Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC)
  • Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE)
  • Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)
  • Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX)

Mars 2020 will seek signs of ancient life by studying Martian terrain that once held flowing rivers and lakes. The rover, named Perseverance, will also carry the Mars Helicopter, the first rotary aircraft test on a planet beyond Earth. View the full experience

More about Mars

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NASA’s Perseverance Drives on Mars’ Terrain for First Time

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Flexing Perseverance's Robotic Arm

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The Road Ahead for Perseverance

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Simulation of Perseverance Arm Movement

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Perseverance Wiggles a Wheel

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Perseverance Hazcam First Drive

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Perseverance Is Roving on Mars

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Hebes Chasma - False Color

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Perseverance Drive Visualization

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Perseverance's Weather Sensors Deployed

Mission Website
Mission News
Fact Sheet (PDF)

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