Space Race: The mission for Nasa’s Perseverance Mars rover

On Thursday, Nasa’s Perseverance rover landed successfully on Mars after a journey from Earth of almost seven months.

The Perseverance rover touched down on the Martian surface at 20:55 GMT (15:55 ET) on Thursday 18 February.

The robot is designed to hunt for signs of past microbial life, if it ever existed. It is the first Nasa mission to hunt directly for these “biosignatures” since the Viking missions in the 1970s.

The rover will collect samples of rock and soil, encase them in tubes, and leave them on the planet’s surface to be returned to Earth at a future date. Perseverance will also study the Red Planet’s geology and test how astronauts on future Mars missions could produce oxygen from CO2 in the atmosphere. This oxygen could be used for breathing and rocket propellant.

In addition, a drone-like helicopter will be deployed to demonstrate the first powered flight on Mars. Perseverance will explore Jezero Crater, near the planet’s equator, for at least one Martian year (about 687 Earth days).

Cruise stage, backshell with rover, heat shield
The rover was encapsulated within an aeroshell, consisting of a backshell and heatshield

Perseverance was launched on 30 July 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The one-tonne, car-sized rover travelled through space enclosed in a protective aeroshell consisting of two parts: a conical backshell and a heat shield.

The aeroshell was connected to a cruise stage that fired thrusters to keep the spacecraft on course, ensuring it arrived at Mars in the right place for landing.