NASA leadership and a panel of scientists and engineers will preview NASA's next mission to the Red Planet, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, at a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) on Wednesday, June 17. The live briefing will stream on Facebook, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter, NASA Television and the agency's website.
Perseverance is a robotic scientist weighing just under 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms). The rover's astrobiology mission will search for signs of past microbial life on Mars, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect rock and soil samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
Briefing participants will be:
- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
- Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington
- Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California
- Matt Wallace, Perseverance deputy project manager at JPL
- Luis Dominguez, Perseverance deputy electrical integration and test lead at JPL
- Omar Baez, launch director in NASA's Launch Services Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida
Members of the media and the public may ask questions on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.
The mission is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:15 a.m. EDT (6:15 a.m. PDT) July 20. The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program. It will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
For more about Perseverance visit:
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