Perseverance touches down on Mars - 24th February 2021

After a 7 month voyage through the cosmos, Perseverance has successfully reached the Martian surface.

The robotic rover's multi-year mission to seek out primordial Martian microbes can now commence. The craft is already capturing images of its landing site, the Jezero Crater in Mars's northern hemisphere, which may have once been the location of a river that flowed into a lake. The presence of water adds weight to the theory that the red planet sustained life at one point in its history.

Kitted out with a panoply of high tech gear, Perseverance is capable of surveying Mars for the biosignatures of extinct microorganisms and analysing rock and soil samples. NASA is also attempting the first powered flight on another planet with an experimental aerial drone tucked under Perseverance's belly.

As NASA administrator Steve Jurcyzk explains, this could open up a variety of exploration opportunities.

Steve Jurczyk: "This mission also has technology on it. One of the cool things is the Ingenuity helicopter. It's, it's an experiment on this mission. But if it's successful, we can use it as an observation, science observation platform by putting instruments on it, and also use it as a scout for future rover missions."

Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Project MiMi Aung can't wait for the drone's deployment.

MiMi Aung: "This is super exciting. Know we have been working on Mars helicopter for over six years, testing and carefully designing it for operation at Mars. So what's going through my mind? Ingenuity Mars helicopter is finally at the destination that it is designed for."

Another eye-catching experiment planned involves the conversion of C02 into oxygen, which, if successful, would have a significant impact on future expeditions.

Perseverance won't have the red planet to itself for much longer as China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft, which entered the Martian orbit last week, will dispatch its own rover to Mars in May.