The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover has landed on Mars on 18th February 2021. The Rover will succeed the Curiosity Rover and will search for signs of ancient microbial life and fuel NASA's quest for past life on Mars.
The rover will dig through the Martian soil and store core samples of rock and soil. It will store them in a sealed tube waiting for a pickup from a Human mission later on and be studied in detail back on earth.
Science in the Mission
Preceding missions to the rover have discovered signs of water existing on Mars in the distant past. The Curiosity rover before Perseverance has found nutrients and energy which could supply the energy required for microbial life. Perseverance will take further steps in exploring the possibility of life on Mars in the past.
Perseverance is set to explore the Jezero crater on Mars. From orbit it looks like a promising place where life may had evolved. The rover will explore and collect the most compelling rock samples from the crater. Perseverance will also test experiments required for human and further robotic exploration of Mars.
Perseverance's Science objectives
Geology: Study of the rocks and landscape of the crater to reveal its history.
Astrobiology: Determine whether the crater was suitable for life.
Sample Caching: Collect samples and store them for later human pickup.
Prepare for Human exploration: Test technologies which would allow humans to explore Mars and maybe even colonise it.
Instruments on the Rover
Mastcam- Z: The Mastcam-Z is an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability and the ability to zoom. The instrument can help scientists to asses the mineralogy of Mars.
Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyser(MEDA): MEDA is a set of sensors which provides information on temperature, wind speed, pressure, and humidity.
Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment(MOXIE): MOXIE is an exploration technology investigation to produce oxygen from the Martian carbon dioxide.
Planetary Instrument X-ray Lithochemsitry(PIXL): PIXL is a X-ray fluorescent spectrometer with a high resolution camera to investigate the fine composition of the Martian crust.
Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Experiment(RIMFAX): RIMFAX will provide a centimeter scale resolution of the geological structure of the substructure.
Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC): SHERLOC is a spectrometer which will provide fine scale imaging and uses a UV laser to determine the fine scale minerology to detect organic compounds.
Super cam: Super cam is an instrument which will be used to detect organic compounds in rocks and regoliths from a distance without having to drill through the rock itself.
The Jezero Crater
NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. The process of landing site selection involved a combination of mission team members and scientists from around the world, who carefully examined more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet.
Jezero Crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. Scientists see evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into the crater lake. Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments. Scientists will study how the region formed and evolved, seek signs of past life, and collect samples of Mars rock and soil that might preserve these signs.
Key Facts
Mission Name: Mars 2020
Rover Name: Perseverance
Main Job: The Perseverance rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
Launch: July 30, 2020, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Landed: Feb. 18, 2021
Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars
Mission Duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days)
Tech Demo: The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration, hitching a ride on the Perseverance rover.
-Source
mars.nasa,gov
Good info!!