NASA is Headed Back to Mars

Morning on Mars, illustration. Rocky landscape on Mars, the fourth planet from the sun and the second smallest in the solar system. Mars is a rocky desert world with no surface water. The atmosphere is mostly carbon dioxide and Martian surface temperatures are well below freezing. Both water ice and frozen carbon dioxide form in the coldest regions of Mars. Particles of dust and iron oxide in the thin atmosphere give it a brown-pink-orange colour.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover lifts off July 30 at 7:50 a.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The trip to the “Red Planet” will take about 7 months. When it lands in February of 2021, the rover will search signs of life, explore the planet’s geology and a bunch of other scientific stuff.

.@NASAPersevere deputy project Manager Jennifer Trosper shares how today’s launch fits into the history of exploring the Red Planet. #CountdownToMars pic.twitter.com/N77SMxtPXk

— NASA (@NASA) July 30, 2020