Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover News & Features
Mapping the Red Planet with the Power of Open Science
Mars rovers can only make exciting new discoveries thanks to human scientists making careful decisions about their next stop. The Mars 2020 mission is aimed at exploring the geology of Jezero Crater and seeking signs of ancient microbial life on…
Detective Work Enables Perseverance Team to Revive SHERLOC Instrument
After six months of effort, an instrument that helps the Mars rover look for potential signs of ancient microbial life has come back online. The SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals) instrument aboard NASA’s…
Why Scientists Are Intrigued by Air in NASA’s Mars Sample Tubes
Tucked away with each rock and soil sample collected by the agency’s Perseverance rover is a potential boon for atmospheric scientists. Atmospheric scientists get a little more excited with every rock core NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover seals in its titanium…
NASA’s Perseverance Fords an Ancient River to Reach Science Target
Originally thought of as little more than a route clear of rover-slowing boulders, Neretva Vallis has provided a bounty of geologic options for the science team. After detouring through a dune field to avoid wheel-rattling boulders, NASA’s Perseverance Mars…
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team Says Goodbye … for Now
The final downlink shift by the Ingenuity team was a time to reflect on a highly successful mission — and to prepare the first aircraft on another world for its new role. Engineers working on NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter assembled…
Rock Sampled by NASA’s Perseverance Embodies Why Rover Came to Mars
Editor’s note: This story was updated April 29, 2024, to correct the date on which the 24th sample was collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. The 24th sample taken by the six-wheeled scientist offers new clues about Jezero Crater and the…
Team Assessing SHERLOC Instrument on NASA’s Perseverance Rover
UPDATE, Mar. 5, 2024: Engineers for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover have made progress addressing the issue affecting the SHERLOC instrument’s Autofocus Context Imager (ACI), but at present the instrument’s Raman spectroscopic capability remains offline. To better understand the issue with the…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Deciphers Ancient History of Martian Lake
Now at 1,000 days on Mars, the mission has traversed an ancient river and lake system, collecting valuable samples along the way. Marking its 1,000th Martian day on the Red Planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover recently completed its exploration of the…
NASA’s Mars Fleet Will Still Conduct Science While Lying Low
Rovers and orbiters will continue collecting limited data during a two-week communications pause due to the position of Earth, the Sun, and the Red Planet. NASA will hold off sending commands to its Mars fleet for two weeks, from Nov.…
NASA’s Perseverance Captures Dust-Filled Martian Whirlwind
The six-wheeled geologist spotted the twister as part of an atmospheric exploration of Jezero Crater. The lower portion of a Martian dust devil was captured moving along the western rim of Mars’ Jezero Crater by NASA’s Perseverance rover on Aug.…