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<\/p>\nNASA has named its Mars 2020 rover, \u201cPerseverance,\u201d as it prepares for launch this summer. The name is a result of a nationwide contest, which accepted more than 28,000 essays from K-12 students, and pays tribute to continued exploration of the extremely challenging environment of the red planet.<\/p>\n
The rover is currently at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It made the trip from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to March Air Force Base in California, where it boarded a United States Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft for the trip to NASA\u2019s Launch and Landing Facility, formerly known as the Shuttle Landing Facility. The spacecraft is currently undergoing processing in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.<\/p>\n
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Perseverance arrives at the Kennedy Space Center aboard a C-17 \u2013 via Julia Bergeron for NSF<\/p>\n
The rover joined the heat shield and back shell, collectively referred to as an aeroshell, which arrived at the Kennedy Space Center from Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado in December 2019. Throughout January, teams have performed testing of the aeroshell, reaching milestones that included center of gravity and moments of inertia measurements, as well as lift activities within the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.<\/p>\n
When Perseverance makes its voyage to the red planet, it will bring another vehicle with it. For the first time, NASA will attempt to demonstrate heavier-than-air flight in the Martian atmosphere.<\/p>\n
The Mars Helicopter flight demonstration is an autonomous, 1.8 kilogram helicopter, which will be deployed from Perseverance to the Martian surface after landing. As a technology demonstrator, the vehicle carries no scientific instruments, only a single high resolution color camera. NASA hopes the helicopter will overcome Mars\u2019 thin atmosphere and long communications delays to Earth in order to prove flight on Mars is viable. A successful demonstration would pave the way for future vehicles carrying scientific equipment.<\/p>\n
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The Mars Helicopter flight demonstration vehicle in a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory \u2013 via NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/p>\n
The Perseverance rover and the helicopter will launch together aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket this summer. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is currently scheduled for no earlier than 9:00 AM EDT (13:00 UTC) on July 17.<\/p>\n
The AV-088 Atlas V rocket will fly in the 541 configuration, with a 5 meter diameter payload fairing, 4 solid rocket boosters, and a single RL-10 engine on the Centaur upper stage. This is the same rocket configuration that launched the very similar Curiosity rover to Mars in 2011.<\/p>\n
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Atlas V launches Curiosity in 2011, using the same configuration which will launch Perseverance this year \u2013 via United Launch Alliance<\/p>\n
After a seven month journey through interplanetary space, the rover is scheduled to land at Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. NASA believes the crater was once home to an ancient river delta, which could have hosted organic molecules and other signs of microbial life. Landforms in the area are also estimated to be as much as 3.6 billion years old. Perseverance is planned to investigate these features on the Martian surface for at least one Martian year, or 687 Earth days.<\/p>\n
NASA has been hoping to study this region of Mars for a long time, but believed landing at the site was too dangerous due to the high number of boulders present. Thanks to an upgraded vision system from Curiosity\u2019s skycrane descent module, Perseverance will now be able to compare imagery captured during descent to maps stored onboard. The rover can then decide to divert to a secondary landing site with safer terrain if too many hazards are discovered at the primary landing site. This system was tested aboard a suborbital Masten Space Systems rocket in 2014.<\/p>\n
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Perseverance will join the Curiosity rover and InSight lander as NASA\u2019s 3rd active mission on the surface of Mars. If successful, the mission will be NASA\u2019s 8th successful Mars landing, and 5th Mars rover.<\/p>\n