NASA's 'Perseverance' rover is set to land on Mars Thursday
This illustration depicts NASA's Perseverance rover operating on the surface of Mars. Perseverance will land at the Red Planet's Jezero Crater a little after 3:40 p.m. EST (12:40 p.m. PST) on Feb. 18, 2021. (Source: NASA)
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. - NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is set to land on Mars this week.
On Thursday, a 292 million-mile journey will come to an end as NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is set to land on the Red Planet.
"This is going to be a nail biter. It’s exciting because we’ve had missions that went to Mars and didn’t make it," said Dale Ketcham, of Space Florida.
Ketcham says the Perseverance rover is bigger and more sophisticated. It will also carry NASA's first helicopter to be used on Mars.
"When it lands, it drops the helicopter and then the rover moves away and then the helicopter spins up and flies which is no small accomplishment. Mars has a very, very thin atmosphere," Ketcham said.
Perseverance will spend two years looking for past and present life and prepare for future human exploration. The rover won't just look for records of ancient life, but will also collect samples that will be returned to Earth and analyzed by scientists.
"As we learn how to deal with the physics and chemistry of carbon dioxide on another planet, that helps us and gives us additional insight into how to solve the problems here back home, which is all part of explorations," Ketcham said.
Ketcham says these missions help in NASA's goal to put astronauts on Mars sometime in the 2030s.
"It’s all part of our effort to understand our nearest neighbor. It’s part of our collective effort to become, in the long run, a multi-planet species," Ketchum said.