Status of NASA’s Martian Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars. (NASA)

Now that we have learned a little more about China’s Martian rover, maybe we should check on NASA’s Perseverance Rover. According to a recent press release from NASA, earlier this month Perseverance started its three-mile trip to the river delta on the rim of Jezero Crater after already exploring the Martian surface for about 13 months. This delta may contain evidence of ancient microbial life. As with the Chinese rover mission, the collected samples will be returned to Earth via a later mission.

The Perseverance arrived on the Martian surface February 18, 2021. The mission has already shown success with the Ingenuity Helicopter, while the rover is showing greater abilities to self-navigate. All of this is proving to be promising for future robotic exploration of the planet.

You can get facts about the Perseverance mission here and ongoing updates here.