The Perseverance rover is a Mars rover manufactured by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for the Mars 2020 mission. It is the most sophisticated rover ever sent to Mars, designed to search for signs of ancient microbial life.
Mission History
Launched on July 30, 2020, Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, following a harrowing "seven minutes of terror" entry, descent, and landing sequence. The landing site was chosen because Jezero was once a lake bed, making it an ideal location to search for ancient life.
Key Objectives
- Search for signs of ancient microbial life
- Collect and cache Mars samples for future return to Earth
- Deploy Ingenuity, the first Mars helicopter
- Test technologies for future human exploration
Scientific Instruments
Perseverance carries 7 primary instruments:
- Mastcam-Z: Stereoscopic camera system
- SuperCam: Remote sensing instrument
- PIXL: X-ray fluorescence spectrometer
- SHERLOC: UV Raman spectrometer
- MEDA: Weather station
- MOXIE: Oxygen production experiment
- RIMFAX: Ground-penetrating radar
Historic Achievements
Ingenuity Helicopter: On April 19, 2021, Perseverance deployed and supervised the first powered flight on another planet. Ingenuity has far exceeded its original five-flight demonstration mission, completing over 70 flights as of 2025.
Sample Collection: As of 2025, Perseverance has collected and cached dozens of rock and soil samples, which will be retrieved by a future Mars Sample Return mission—the first attempt to bring Martian material to Earth.
Ongoing Mission
Perseverance continues to explore Jezero Crater, climbing the crater's delta deposits and making groundbreaking discoveries about Mars' watery past and potential for ancient life. The rover is expected to operate throughout the 2020s, continuing to advance our understanding of the red planet.