NEWS
30 July 2020

NASA has launched the most ambitious Mars rover ever built: here’s what happens next

Perseverance will stow away rocks for eventual delivery to Earth, and will listen for Martian sounds for the first time.

Alexandra Witze

Alexandra Witze

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The biggest, most complex rover ever sent to Mars is now on its way. NASA’s Perseverance rover launched successfully on 30 July, the third of three Mars missions to launch in the space of just ten days. The rover will be the first mission ever to attempt to collect rock samples for return to Earth; it will also search for signs of ancient alien life, launch the first helicopter on the red planet and use microphones to capture Mars’s sounds for the first time.

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Nature 584, 15-16 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02257-w

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