Perseverance

Mission Profile

Perseverance is NASA's most advanced Mars rover, delivered to Jezero Crater on 18 February 2021 by the Mars 2020 mission launched aboard an Atlas V 541. Equipped with 23 cameras, two microphones, and seven science instruments including the SHERLOC Raman spectrometer and PIXL X-ray fluorescence instrument, it is specifically designed to search for signs of ancient microbial life in Mars's most promising astrobiological target. Perseverance has collected and cached dozens of rock and soil samples in sealed titanium tubes for eventual retrieval by a future Mars Sample Return campaign. The rover also carried the Ingenuity helicopter, which became humanity's first powered aircraft to operate on another planet.