Welcome to Mars!

In February, 2021, a robotic rover named Perseverance landed on Mars after an eight-month journey. Like a science lab on wheels, the robot explores the red planet to help determine if life ever existed here—and help to prepare the planet for human exploration. Follow its incredible journey.

Perseverance has everything it needs to collect samples and conduct experiments, from a weather station to a robotic arm to x-ray devices to panoramic cameras. For instance, it can look for signs of past life in Martian rocks and test a method for producing oxygen from the Martian air, which future human explorers will need. The rover even has a helicopter drone strapped to its belly!
Perseverance has everything it needs to collect samples and conduct experiments, from a weather station to a robotic arm to x-ray devices to panoramic cameras. For instance, it can look for signs of past life in Martian rocks and test a method for producing oxygen from the Martian air, which future human explorers will need. The rover even has a helicopter drone strapped to its belly!
Illustration by Nasa / JPL-Caltech