NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on July 30. After a journey of nearly 300 million miles, the Perseverance will finally touch down on the Red Planet on Thursday, February 18, 2021.
The rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth. Similar in size to a car, Perseverance is the heaviest rover we've ever sent to the surface of Mars, carrying a variety of experiments that will help prepare us for future human exploration.
The intense entry, descent, and landing phase, known as EDL, begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere. Engineers have referred to the time it takes to land on Mars as the "seven minutes of terror."
You’ll be able to follow along with the news from mission control on the NASA TV Public Channel, the NASA App, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. Perseverance is expected to touch down on Mars’ Jezero Crater at approximately 3:55 pm, with NASA's live coverage and commentary starting at 2:15 pm.