NASA is preparing to land the Perseverance Rover, along with the first small helicopter, on the red planet next month. Despite a mostly successful background landing robots on Mars, it’s still a daring operation and a lot is riding on the new robotic mission, which is carrying a new suite of science instruments, microphones and the ability to collect samples to be returned to Earth on a later mission.
Only about 40% of the missions ever sent to Mars have been successful, according to NASA. Perseverance will be the fifth rover that NASA has attempted to land on Mars.
The goal of NASA’s newest, most advanced rover yet is to seek out signs of previous life on the planet. [TRENDING: Video shows officer slamming student | Man shoots at