Details about the Mars 2020 Rover

An illustration of NASA's Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars.

  • Launch Date: July 30, 2020
  • Mars Landing: Feb. 18, 2021

The Mars 2020 "Perseverance" rover is conducting geological assessments of its landing site on Mars; Perseverance is determining the habitability of the environment, searching for signs of ancient Martian life, and assessing natural resources and hazards for future human explorers.

illustration of NASA's Mars 2020 on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance rover has been busy since its harrowing touchdown in Mars’ Jezero Crater this past February. In the 10 months since, the car-size rover has driven 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers), set a record for the longest rover drive in a Martian day, taken more than 100,000 images,

The rover is also preparing a collection of rock samples for possible return to Earth by a future mission.

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Take a closer look at the MMRTG subsystem on NASA's Perseverance rover with our interactive 3D viewer.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission 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 questions about the potential for life on Mars. The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself.

Perseverance introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside in a "cache" on the surface of Mars. A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth. That would help scientists study the samples in laboratories with special room-sized equipment that would be too large to take to Mars.

The mission also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.

The mission launched on July 30, 2020 when Earth and Mars were in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. That is, it takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits. To keep mission costs and risks as low as possible, the Mars 2020 design is based on NASA's successful Mars Science Laboratory mission architecture, including its Curiosity rover and proven landing system.