A new rover built by Nasa and named Perseverance will land on Mars in February 2021 using the “sky crane” method. A giant parachute and rocket motors will slow the mission’s descent before the rover is lowered to the surface using cables.
Perseverance – a six-wheeled robotic machine with 23 cameras and a drill – will seek signs of ancient life in a large crater called Jezero. It will collect rock and soil samples that look like they may have been altered by contact with micro-organisms.
The rover will store its samples in metal canisters – but leave them behind on the Martian surface to continue its mission. Perserverance’s plutonium-based power supply could keep the rover trundling around Mars for 10 years or more.
Later this decade – after 2026 – a second ... Read even more
