The Perseverance Rover

Perseverance is a car-sized robot that explores the planet Mars. NASA landed it on Mars in February 2021. The rover has cameras, drills, and science tools. Its job is to look for signs that tiny life may have lived on Mars long ago.

Landing on Mars

Perseverance landed in a place called Jezero Crater. Scientists think this crater was once a lake filled with water. The landing used a sky crane that lowered the rover with cables. It was one of the hardest landings ever tried on Mars. NASA called it the Seven Minutes of Terror.

Exploring the Red Planet

Perseverance drills into rocks and collects small samples. It stores them in tubes so a future mission can bring them to Earth. The rover also brought a tiny helicopter named Ingenuity. Ingenuity was the first aircraft to fly on another planet. Perseverance even made oxygen from the Martian air.

Fun Facts

• Perseverance has 23 cameras, more than any other Mars rover.
• Its wheels are made of aluminum to handle the rocky Martian ground.
• The rover weighs about 2,260 pounds on Earth.

Did You Know?

Perseverance can record sounds on Mars with its microphones, letting us hear wind on another planet for the first time.