The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Perseverance rover heading to Mars on mission to find signs of ancient life
Robot travelling 314 million miles to land in 31mile wide crater
Nasa’s new car-sized robotic spacecraft is on its way to Mars in a mission to search for evidence of ancient life.
The Perseverance rover blasted from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida yesterday at 12.50pm UK time, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
It is the third mission heading to the Red Planet this month after launches by the UAE and China.
Perseverance will now travel 314 million miles over a period of nearly seven months before attempting to land on a 31-mile crater named Jezero.
Landing on Mars is notoriously difficult because of its thin and dynamic atmosphere – a feat that has been described as “seven minutes of terror”.
Nasa has succeeded in getting only a handful of functioning probes and rovers on to the Martian surface and more than half of the spacecraft sent there have either blown up, burned up or crashed into the surface.
Satellite images suggest Jezero, located on the western edge of Isidis Planitia – a giant impact basin just north of the Martian equator, may have been a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago, when Mars was warmer and wetter.
Scientists believe evidence of past life could be preserved in the clay and muddy rocks in the crater, if it ever existed on the planet.
Along with several sophisticated instruments that will gather information about Mars’ geology, atmosphere, and environmental conditions, the rover is also carrying a small 1.8kg helicopter.
Called Ingenuity, the chopper will fly short distances and will mark the first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.
If successful, it could lead to more flying probes on other planets.
Perseverance will also trial technologies to help astronauts make future expeditions to Mars.