The Perseverance Rover Launched By NASA Lands on Surface of Mars

As per the latest reports, the robotic rover launched by NASA has successfully landed on the surface of Mars. It has been confirmed that the recently landing rover is the fifth one that has been sent by NASA on Mars. The name of the robotic rover is Perseverance and it landed on the surface of Mars on Thursday, February 18, 2021.

According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory team for the mission confirmed that the rover successfully touched down at 3:55 pm (ET). The team revealed that now that the rover has successfully landed on the surface of Mars, it is now ready to explore the planet’s surface. Once again, the mission of the rover deployment on Mars is to seek the signs of past life from the sand samples it will collect.

NASA officials have confirmed that the Perseverance is one of the most advanced rovers that has been created by the company so far. It is NASA’s technological breakthroughs and the teams have really high hopes with the rover.

The team working on the exploration mission has also revealed how long the rover is supposed to roam the surface of Mars. The aim is to operate the rover for almost two years in order to explore and find signs of past life.

NASA has revealed that it is one of the most expensive and highly invested projects that the company has launched so far. As per NASA, the company revealed that it has spent around $2.4 billion for the construction of the rover and operating the Perseverance project.

The company has revealed that the $2.4 billion amount is other than the cost of landing and operating the rover. NASA has revealed that the process of landing and operating the rover for exploration will cost them another $300 million.

Prior to Perseverance, it was the Curiosity rover that was created and launched back in August of 2012. The rover was constructed and launched on the surface of Mars for the same purpose and the rover is in operation to this day.

The company that was involved in the construction of Curiosity was the JPL department of NASA that is based in California. The same company has reportedly constructed the Perseverance as their rovers are still performing their duties.

It has been revealed that several other companies have contributed to the construction of the rover. The company known as Aerojet Rocketdyne provided rocket thrusters, Lockheed Martin provided heat shield, and Maxar Technologies provided robotic arm.

Another very unique feature about the rover is that it is equipped with a small helicopter that has been named “Ingenuity”. The helicopter has been installed by NASA in order to achieve the first flight on another planet.