Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover

Science

Perseverance takes the next step in Mars Exploration by looking for the signs of past life itself.

Overview

Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater, a location on Mars that shows promising signs of a place that was likely friendly to life in the distant past. The rover’s goal is to study the site in detail for its past conditions and seek the very signs of past life. It is carrying out its mission to identify and collect the most compelling rock cores and other samples of Mars material, which a future mission could retrieve and bring to Earth for more detailed study. Perseverance also tests technologies needed for the future human and robotic exploration of Mars.

Composed of 993 individual images and 2.38 billion pixels, this 360-degree mosaic taken by NASA's Perseverance looks in all directions from a location the rover science team calls "Airey Hill."

NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Objectives

To contribute to the four Mars exploration science goals and meet its specific goal of determining Mars' habitability, Perseverance has the following science objectives:
NASA's Perseverance rover is exploring Jezero Crater, a location on Mars that shows promising signs of being a place that was likely friendly to life in the distant past. The rover is seeking specific indicators of possible past life. Perseverance also has a unique goal of collecting and caching samples of Mars rock and regolith--broken rock and dust--for possible future return to Earth. With these samples and ongoing exploration, scientists hope to advance the search for signs of past life on Mars and gain insights into the planet's evolution.

This photomontage shows each of the sample tubes shortly after they were deposited onto the surface by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, as viewed by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the rover’s 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Science Highlights

NASA's Perseverance rover has been exploring the surface of Mars since landing in February 2021. The rover has made discoveries about the planet's volcanic history, climate, surface, interior, habitability, and the role of water in Jezero Crater. The rover's accomplishments also include the collection of diverse, compelling samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), and the testing of technologies that would benefit future human exploration of Mars.

Learn More

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie over a rock nicknamed “Rochette,” on September 10, 2021.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Science Instruments

Perseverance carries seven primary science instruments for acquiring information about Martian geology, atmosphere, environmental conditions, and potential biosignatures.

Perseverance Rover illustration annotated with labels describing the components of the rover

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

Perseverance Rover

Parker Solar Probe

Juno