The United States science community made groundbreaking history Thursday, February 18, 2021.  After launch from the NASA Space Center on July 30, 2020, the most recent Mars rover mission, the Perseverance, landed at 3:55 p.m. after traveling for approximately 292.5 million miles.  The rover landed in an ancient lake known as Jezero Crater, supposedly containing many artifacts leading to the discovery of life on Mars.

Perseverance began the building process years before the official launch.  The development of technology has guided the enhancement of the rover and its abilities once landing on Mars.  Just minutes after the official declaration of the landing, real-time photographs of the landing and the surface were returned to the Space Center for those watching live, the brains behind the project, to view.  For years, the NASA Space Center has performed hours upon hours of research in an effort to prove life once did live on the surface of Mars.  With Perseverance now being located on the surface, the rover can collect samples to hopefully return to NASA by 2030.

Before the launch of the Perseverance, a contest was held to help name the rover.  Contestants were required to write an essay as to why their name should be selected.  As a result, Alex Mather, a seventh grader from Springfield, Virginia, wrote the winning essay.  For more information on the Perseverance, visit https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/.  The site will include fact sheets, videos and pictures from the landing, and plans for the future.