Mars 2020, Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter drone, NASA, USA

During a July 31 briefing at NASA headquarters, agency officials announced seven science instruments, out of fifty-eight proposed, have been selected to be part of the next rover NASA will send to Mars in 2020. The Mars 2020 rover will be a new version of the Curiosity rover currently operating on Mars – with more sophisticated hardware to conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations, including geological assessments, habitability of the environment and searching for signs of past life on the Red Planet.

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A third rover is headed to Mars in 2020, and it's got some upgrades onboard.

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In just a couple of years, NASA’s newest rover will be flying to Mars. The Mars 2020 mission will use the next generation of science and landing technology to collect rock samples for possible return by a future mission.

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We visited the clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to check out the Mars 2020 rover, which is set to launch this summer.

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Let's talk about science! Watch the fourth episode of our #EZScience series to learn about NASA’s upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission by looking back at the Mars Pathfinder mission and Sojourner rover. Discover the innovative elements of Mars 2020 (including a small solar-powered helicopter!) and what we hope to learn about the Red Planet when our new rover arrives in February 2021.

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NASA has announced winner of the Mars 2020 rover naming contest and it is "Perseverance." Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, made the announcement on March 5, 2020.

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Follow the road to launch for our next mission to the Red Planet, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. NASA leadership and a panel of scientists and engineers will preview the upcoming mission at 2 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 17.

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

Perseverance is a robotic scientist that will search for signs of past microbial life on Mars and characterize the planet's climate and geology. It will also collect rock and soil samples for future return to Earth and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. The mission is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:15 a.m. EDT July 20. It will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

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NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is traveling to Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover and must safely detach to begin the first attempt at powered flight on another planet. Tests done at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space show the sequence of events that will bring the helicopter down to the Martian surface.

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NASA's next Mars rover has a name – Perseverance. Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it’s going to make amazing discoveries.

The time at hand is hard. We have already surmounted many obstacles on our way to Red Planet, but as humans we will not give up. We will always persevere.

Targeted for launch in July 2020, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover will search for signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past and for signs of past microbial life itself.

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NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will make history's first attempt at powered flight on another planet next spring. It is riding with the agency's next mission to Mars (the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover) as it launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later this summer. Perseverance, with Ingenuity attached to its belly, will land on Mars February 18, 2021.

As a technology demonstration, Ingenuity is testing a new capability for the first time: showing controlled flight is possible in the very thin Martian atmosphere. If successful, Ingenuity could lead to an aerial dimension to space exploration, aiding both robots and humans in the future.

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ORNL produces some pretty out-of-this-world materials. Plutonium-238, a unique iridium alloy, and carbon-bonded carbon fiber are all key ingredients for deep space exploration. NASA uses these materials in the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG.

An MMRTG is like a nuclear-powered battery pack that can sustain far-reaching space missions for decades.NASA’s Perseverance mission to Mars is the latest to feature one of these generators outfitted with ORNL tech.

(Animations courtesy of NASA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.)

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Mars beckons and NASA is ready to heed the call of the Red Planet with the upcoming launch of the Perseverance rover. But before launch day, kids of all ages can put their imagination to paper via the latest edition of NASA Space Crafts.

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Let’s talk about science! In the latest episode of #EZScience, learn about the upcoming launch of Perseverance. Dr. E and Dr. Z talk about the technological advancements of the newest Mars rover (and helicopter!). The premiere of this episode is part of the National Air and Space Museum’s Mars Day program.

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Despite a global pandemic and some technical delays, NASA’s 2020 Mars Rover – the aptly named Perseverance – is scheduled to launch this summer (currently slated for July 30) on a groundbreaking endeavor. Perseverance will bring along a small, four-pound helicopter dubbed Ingenuity. The copter will be the first flying vehicle on another planet and will have to navigate the frigid nights and dust-filled skies of Mars while operating in an atmosphere that is 100 times thinner than Earth’s. Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Marc Pavone played a role in determining the mission's landing site.

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Join Space Foundation for a live webinar featuring @NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, Director of the @NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Michael Watkins, and Mars Helicopter Project Manager MiMi Aung.

Senior NASA leaders will discuss the groundbreaking Mars 2020 mission followed by a live Q&A.

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Millions of miles from Earth lies a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. You know this planet as Mars…but it hasn’t always been this way. There’s evidence that the Red Planet was much wetter and warmer, with a thicker atmosphere, billions of years ago. Could it also have supported life? NASA’s Perseverance rover launches next week and will explore the Red Planet to collect rock and soil samples, which may preserve ancient signs of life. Join experts on #NASAScience Live Wednesday, July 22 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, to learn more about this robotic astrobiologist.

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In February 2020, NASA’s Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars by first traveling across the United States. The rover was built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and then carefully packed and flown to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. There, engineers integrated the rover with the spacecraft that carries it to Mars, and the Atlas V rocket chosen to send it on its way.

The launch period for the Perseverance rover opens July 30, 2020.

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