NASA Prepares for the Martian Landing of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

Members of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover team study data on monitors in mission control, on Thursday, February 18, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI