NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launched: Watch the historic liftoff here

Achieving a major milestone in the ambitious mission to Mars, NASA has launched it's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter topped on the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket on July 30 at 5:20 PM (India Time of 7 AM ET). NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover that was lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida will land on the Red Planet February 18, 2021, and will conduct its ‘main job’ of finding signs of ancient life along with collecting rock and soil samples for a possible return to Earth making it the first rover for Astrobiology. The entire duration of the mission under NASA’s Mars Exploration Program is nearly 687 earth days that sums up one Mars year. 

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover launched

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is the “first leg” of a round trip from the Martian Planet because it is also the first rover that would take the ‘sample caching system’ to Mars. Perseverance will drill out intact rock cores that are about a piece of chalk that will be stored until it returns to earth. From having self-driving smarts better than any other NASA’s rover to  Terrain-Relative Navigation, the Perseverance has an array of future-looking technologies that would enable it to explore the “interesting” Jezero Crater, its place of landing. According to NASA, its Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is equipped with more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history. 

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Millions viewed NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch

On the eve of NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch, NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine had assured that "the launch readiness review is complete, and we are indeed going for launch”. There were some doubts regarding the weather but the latest weather update just 24 hours before the launch had predicted 80 per cent chance of favourable conditions. With millions watching the launch of NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover from their homes, Alex Mather and Vaneeza Rupani were specially mentioned by NASA as they named the rover and Ingenuity respectively and finally got to witness the lift-off. 

The lesser-known fact about NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is that it has carried the public along with it to the Red Planet. In a unique initiative by NASA, the names of nearly 10.9 million people who had signed up prior to the lift-off to ride along on Perseverance’s journey to Mars is embedded on three silicon chips attached to an anodized plate that also carries the words “Explore as one” in Morse code.

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