{"id":12360,"date":"2020-07-11T00:22:08","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T16:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-mars-rover-encapsulated-for-launch-mated-with-atlas-5-rocket\/"},"modified":"2020-07-11T00:22:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T16:22:08","slug":"photos-mars-rover-encapsulated-for-launch-mated-with-atlas-5-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-mars-rover-encapsulated-for-launch-mated-with-atlas-5-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Mars rover encapsulated for launch, mated with Atlas 5 rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover, contained inside its aeroshell for a searing plunge into the Martian atmosphere next year, has been cocooned inside the payload shroud of its Atlas 5 launcher and mated with the rocket ahead of liftoff from Cape Canaveral scheduled for July 30.<\/p>\n

The six-wheeled robot is NASA\u2019s next Mars rover. It\u2019s similar in size and appearance to NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2012. But Perseverance carries a different set of scientific instruments, featuring upgrades such as microphones, a zoom-capable camera, and a technology experiment to demonstrate the generation of oxygen on the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n

A primary objective of the $2.7 billion mission is to collect dozens of drilled core samples from Martian rocks. The specimens will be hermetically sealed in tubes by Perseverance, and will wait arrival of a future robotic mission to return the samples to Earth for analysis.<\/p>\n

Perseverance, the centerpiece of NASA\u2019s Mars 2020 mission, is scheduled for liftoff on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket during a two-hour window July 30 opening at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).<\/p>\n

Read our full story on the mission\u2019s launch status. More photos from the encapsulation of the Mars 2020 spacecraft and its attachment to the Atlas 5 rocket are posted below.<\/p>\n

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The two halves of the payload fairing for United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas 5 rocket are seen on each side of the spacecraft containing NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover in this June 18 photo. Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Atlas 5 rocket\u2019s payload shroud containing the Perseverance rover was raised atop the launch vehicle Tuesday, July 7. Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Christian Mangano<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The Atlas 5 payload fairing with the Perseverance rover arrives at ULA\u2019s Vertical Integration Facility. Credit: NASA\/KSC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Kim Shiflett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/Kim Shiflett<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Credit: NASA\/KSC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover, contained inside its aeroshell for a searing plunge into the Martian atmosphere next year, has been cocooned inside the payload shroud of its Atlas 5 launcher and mated with the rocket ahead of liftoff from Cape Canaveral scheduled for July 30. The six-wheeled robot is NASA\u2019s next Mars rover. It\u2019s similar in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[724,2131,1392,1183,25,679,367,1761],"class_list":["post-12360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-088","tag-centaur","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-launch","tag-launch-services-program","tag-mars","tag-mars-2020"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}