NASA’s Perseverance rover descends to touch down on Mars in a still image from a video camera aboard the descent stage taken February 18, 2021.
Perseverance will investigate the surface geological processes and history of the Red Planet. This will include an assessment of its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars, and the potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials. It will cache sample containers along its route for retrieval by a potential future Mars sample-return mission. Perseverance is accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter drone, which will attempt the first powered flight on any planet beyond Earth as a technological demonstration.
Perseverance’s first full-color image of Mars sent back by the rover’s Hazard Cameras on the spacecraft’s underside
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.