NASA Updates Plans for Launch of Mars Perseverance Rover

HOUSTON, TX – The surface of Mars has been visited previously by eight NASA spacecraft but a new rover set to launch in July has many new tools.

The Mars Perseverance Rover will be the first that includes gathering Mars samples for future return to Earth.  

After multiple issues NASA is now eyeing July 22 at 8:35 a.m. CDT for the program's launch of the Mars Perseverance Rover.

The agency had previously chosen July 20, but unfortunately the launch was pushed back due to processing delays while adding the rover's spacecraft in the payload fairing nose cone which protects the spacecraft during launch from the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket.

For the first time, NASA's cameras will capture high-definition video of it's vehicle landing on another planet, as microphones capture the sounds of wind and Perseverance’s wheels rolling along the Martian surface.

A drill has been fixed onto a robotic arm which will allow scientists to capture rock and soil samples that could help scientists find signs of ancient life forms on the planet.

The rover's astrobiology mission plans to collect signs of past microscopic life on Mars, explore the geology of the Jezero Crater landing site, and demonstrate key technologies which helps prepare for future robotic and human exploration.

The Mars 2020 mission has been scheduled to liftoff this summer ever since the agency initially announced the project back in December of 2012.

Due to the relative positions of Earth and Mars to each other, launch opportunities come up only every 26 months.

However, NASA states that If the rover is not launched by Aug. 11, or possibly even until Aug. 15 at the latest, then the launch of the Mars Perseverance Rover will be postponed an additional 26 months to September 2022 for the next available launch opportunity, which would seriously impact the long-term objectives of NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

Significant challenges come with the territory when planning missions to Mars. In the case of the Perseverance Rover, the heaviest payload yet to be sent to the Red Planet  included implementing an entire test project to confirm the soundness of their parachute design.

There was also extensive efforts by scientists to upgrade the performance of the rover's Sample Caching System, the most complex and the cleanest mechanism ever sent into space.

Out of all the hurdles faced by the men and women of the Perseverance, the coronavirus pandemic provided the greatest challenge, with safety precautions requiring much work to be done remotely.

Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California says, "The team never wavered in its pursuit of the launch pad, It was through their dedication and the help of other NASA facilities that we have made it this far."

For more information about the mission, go to: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ 

For more about NASA's Moon to Mars plans, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars