NASA s Next Mars Rover Is Ready for the Most Precise Landing Yet
Perseverance Guiding Itself Towards the Surface: The aeroshell containing NASA’s Perseverance rover guides itself towards the Martian surface as it descends through the atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption ›
What to expect when the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover arrives at the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021.
With about 2.4 million miles (3.9 million kilometers) left to travel in space, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is days away from attempting to land the agency’s fifth rover on the Red Planet. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the mission is managed, have confirmed that the spacecraft is healthy and on target to touch down in Jezero Crater at around 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST) on Feb. 18, 2