Mars Videos & Animations
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Mars Report: Update on NASA’s Perseverance Rover & Ingenuity Helicopter (April 16, 2021)
April 16, 2021
As NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter makes progress towards its first test flight, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has begun preparing to test the MOXIE technology demonstration that converts Martian air into oxygen, and investigating some nearby rocks with its science instruments.
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Mars Helicopter Prepares for Takeoff
March 31, 2021
Beginning April 2021, the window opens for the first flight of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. It will be history's first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet.
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Mars Report: Update on NASA’s Perseverance Rover & Ingenuity Helicopter
March 19, 2021
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars helicopter is preparing to deploy the helicopter to the surface of the Red Planet. This video provides a mission update from Farah Alibay, Perseverance integration lead for Ingenuity, and Tim Canham, Ingenuity operations lead.
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President Biden Calls JPL to Congratulate the Perseverance Mars Rover Team
March 06, 2021
On March 4, 2021, President Biden video called NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to congratulate the mission team for the successful landing of the Perseverance Mars rover.
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Simulation of Perseverance Arm Movement
March 05, 2021
This simulation shows the motions the robotic arm on NASA's Perseverance rover carried out during its first two-hour checkout on Mars. This simulation does not run in real-time.
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Perseverance Drive Visualization
March 05, 2021
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory driving the agency's Perseverance rover use visualization software to plan how the rover moves around on Mars. This clip from their visualization shows the rover's first drive on March 4, 2021.
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Perseverance Weather Sensors Deployed
March 05, 2021
This set of images shows part of the deployment of the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) wind sensors on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. MEDA is a set of weather sensors, with the wind sensor components on the rover's remote sensing mast. These images were taken by Perseverance's Naviga...
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Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars, as the World Watches
March 05, 2021
On Feb. 18, 2021, the world watched live as NASA's Mars 2020 mission team attempted the most daring part of its mission: landing the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars.
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Perseverance Rover's Descent and Touchdown on Mars: Onboard Camera Views
February 22, 2021
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance mission captured thrilling footage of its rover landing in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
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NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands Successfully on Mars
February 18, 2021
After a seven-month-long journey, NASA's Perseverance Rover successfully touched down on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California celebrate landing NASA's fifth -- and most ambitious -- rover on Mars.
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NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Landing in Most Difficult Site Ever Attempted
February 12, 2021
All landings on Mars are difficult, but NASA's Perseverance rover is attempting to touch down in the most challenging terrain on Mars ever targeted.
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Perseverance’s Sample Tubes Ready for Mars
December 22, 2020
One key activity for NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, which is on its way to the Red Planet, will be to collect samples of Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) for future return to Earth.
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NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Landing Animations
December 21, 2020
This reel depicts key events during entry, descent, and landing that will occur when NASA's Perseverance rover lands on Mars February 18, 2021.
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Perseverance Arrives at Mars: Feb. 18, 2021 (Mission Trailer)
December 21, 2020
After nearly 300 million miles (470 million km), NASA's Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on Feb. 18, 2021.
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Could NASA's MOXIE Help Astronauts Breathe on Mars?
November 24, 2020
MOXIE engineer Asad Aboobaker of JPL explains how the instrument works in this video interview.
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Preparing to Land Perseverance
November 10, 2020
To prepare the Perseverance rover for its date with Mars, NASA's Mars 2020 mission team conducted a wide array of tests to help ensure a successful entry, descent and landing at the Red Planet.
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Twin of NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Now on the Move
October 06, 2020
While NASA's Mars rover Perseverance travels through space toward the Red Planet, its nearly identical rover twin is hard at work on Earth.
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NASA's Perseverance Rover Launches to Mars
July 30, 2020
NASA's Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars today by successfully launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a ULA Atlas V rocket. It now begins its seven-month journey to the Red Planet, landing there on Feb. 18, 2021.
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NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Launches With Your #CountdownToMars
July 30, 2020
To get ready for the launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, NASA invited the public to join a global, collective #CountdownToMars project.
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Mission Overview: NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover
July 27, 2020
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is heading to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life, collect samples for future return to Earth and help pave the way for human exploration.
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Getting Perseverance to the Launch Pad
July 22, 2020
In February 2020, NASA's Perseverance Rover began its long journey to Mars by first traveling across the United States.
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter: The First Aircraft on Mars
July 14, 2020
NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will make history's first attempt at powered flight on another planet next spring. It is riding with the agency's next mission to Mars (the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover) as it launches from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station later this summer. Perseverance, with In...
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Send NASA Your #CountdownToMars
June 19, 2020
NASA is inviting the public to help get ready for the upcoming launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover by joining a global, collective #CountdownToMars.
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Testing the Rover Highlights
May 18, 2020
This video highlights some of the tests NASA's Perseverance rover completed between September and December 2019 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
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Behind the Spacecraft: Seeking Signs of Life in Ancient Martian Rocks
April 30, 2020
When the NASA Perseverance Mars rover lands on the Red Planet, it will be caching rock samples for a future mission to collect and return to Earth.
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Behind the Spacecraft: Protecting Mars from Earth Bacteria
April 30, 2020
When NASA's Perseverance rover travels to Mars to search for signs of life, it's important that the spacecraft doesn't bring along any Earth bacteria.
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Behind the Spacecraft: Testing Hardware on Earth for a Journey to Mars
April 30, 2020
From launch to the journey to Mars to atmospheric entry to surviving on the Martian surface, NASA's Perseverance rover will have to endure a lot of extreme environments on its way to the Red Planet.
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Behind the Spacecraft: From Rockettes to Rockets
April 30, 2020
As a professional dancer in New York City, NASA-JPL engineer Heather Bottom never forgot her passion for space.
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Behind the Spacecraft: Studying Martian Rocks Back on Earth
April 30, 2020
When NASA's Perseverance Mars rover starts its quest for compelling Martian rocks, it will have quite the to-do list: Locate, drill, collect, stash, and so much more.
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Behind the Spacecraft: De Columbia a Marte
April 30, 2020
Cuando se mudó a los Estados Unidos desde Colombia, la ingeniera de NASA-JPL Diana Trujillo no hablaba inglés.
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Behind the Spacecraft: From Columbia to Mars
April 30, 2020
When she moved to the U.S. from Colombia, NASA-JPL engineer Diana Trujillo didn't speak English.
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Behind the Spacecraft: Engineer Lands Spacecraft on Mars… Again
April 30, 2020
NASA-JPL engineer Al Chen is no stranger to landing things on Mars. In fact, it's sort of the family business.
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NASA Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Media Reel
April 29, 2020
NASA's Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will be the first aircraft to fly in a controlled way on another planet.
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NASA Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Animations
April 29, 2020
NASA's Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will be the first aircraft to fly in a controlled way on another planet.
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Mars Helicopter - Arriving at the Red Planet, February 2021
April 29, 2020
NASA's Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity, arrives at Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. Its mission: to demonstrate the first powered flight on another planet. Taking to the Martian skies in Spring 2021.
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NASA's Latest Mars Rover Has a Name
March 05, 2020
NASA has chosen a name for its next Mars rover: Perseverance. The name was announced today by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington during a celebration at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia. Zurbuchen was on...
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Behind the Spacecraft: Perseverance - The Next Mars Rover
March 05, 2020
Sending a rover to the Red Planet is more than just 3…2…1… Liftoff! It takes 100s of people and years of hard work to get a spacecraft from Earth to Mars.
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Mars 2020 Rover Arrival
February 12, 2020
Mars 2020 rover arrives at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for processing.
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NASA Mars 2020 Rover Sample Collection Animation
February 06, 2020
When NASA's Mars 2020 rover lands on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021, it will seek signs of past microbial life and characterize the planet's climate and geology.
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Mars 2020 Lift Activities in PHSF
January 14, 2020
Mars 2020 Lift Activities in PHSF at Kennedy Space Center.
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First Drive Test of NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover
December 18, 2019
On Dec. 17, 2019, engineers took NASA's next Mars rover for its first spin.
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Mars Science Teams Investigate Ancient Life in Australia
November 15, 2019
In the Australian Outback, scientists from NASA's upcoming Mars 2020 mission and their counterparts from the joint European-Russian ExoMars mission visited the oldest convincing evidence for life on Earth to prepare for their own searches for signs of ancient life on Mars.
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Building NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover
August 27, 2019
See NASA's next Mars rover quite literally coming together inside a clean room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Name NASA's Next Mars Rover!
August 27, 2019
The Mars 2020 Rover is preparing to launch to the Red Planet in July 2020, but it doesn't have a name yet. We're asking K-12 students across the United States to send in essays with their best name ideas by Nov. 1, 2019.
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Pit Crew for Mars: NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Gets Some Wheels (time lapse)
July 12, 2019
A team of engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the legs and wheels - otherwise known as the mobility suspension - on the Mars 2020 rover. The imagery for this accelerated time-lapse was taken on June 13, 2019, from a camera above the Spacecraft Assembly F...
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Landing NASA's Mars 2020 Rover with Terrain Relative Navigation
July 01, 2019
The Mars 2020 mission is facing the most challenging landing yet on the Red Planet. It will touch down on Feb. 18, 2021, in Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) expanse full of steep cliffs, boulder fields and other things that could boobytrap the landing. A new technology called Ter...
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Crazy Engineering: Making Oxygen on Mars with MOXIE
June 12, 2019
Crazy Engineering explores a technology demonstration riding aboard NASA's Mars 2020 rover that's straight out of science fiction novels like "The Martian." It's an oxygen generator called MOXIE, designed to convert carbon dioxide - which constitutes about 96% of the Martian atmosphere - into br...
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NASA Chopper Ready for a Spin on Mars
June 06, 2019
Can we fly on Mars? The laws of physics may say it's near impossible, but actually flying a heavier-than-air vehicle on the Red Planet is much harder than that. NASA's Mars 2020 mission will deliver a technology demonstration that will put the idea to the test -- a helicopter that will perform co...
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Mars 2020 Rover Build Update
February 19, 2019
Tour the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and see the Mars 2020 mission under construction. Project System Engineer Jennifer Trosper explains the hardware being built and tested, including the rover, descent stage, cruise stage, back shell, and heat shield. This NA...
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Mars 2020 Target: Jezero Crater Flyover
December 13, 2018
An animated flyover of the Martian surface explains why Mars' Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide ancient lake-delta system, is the best place for Mars 2020 to find and collect promising samples for a possible future return to Earth.
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Mars in a Minute: (French) Comment choisir un site d'atterrissage?
November 20, 2018
Donc, vous voulez étudier Mars avec un atterrisseur ou un rover, mais où l'envoyer exactement? Apprenez comment les scientifiques et ingénieurs abordent cette question dans cette vidéo de 60 secondes du centre Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA.
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Mars in a Minute: (French) Comment atterrir sur Mars?
November 16, 2018
Faire atterrir une sonde sur Mars est l'une des choses les plus complexes à réaliser. Cette vi-déo de 60 secondes explique comment cela est possible, et illustre les trois systèmes d'atterris-sage utilisés sur la planète rouge.
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Testing a Parachute for Mars
October 26, 2018
On Sept. 7 NASA's ASPIRE project broke a record when its rocket-launched parachute deployed in 4-10ths of a second - the fastest inflation of this size chute in history.
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Mars in a Minute: How Do You Choose a Landing Site?
October 15, 2018
So, you want to study Mars with a lander or rover - but where exactly do you send it? Learn how scientists and engineers tackle this question in this 60-second video from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Painting Cars for Mars
October 09, 2018
What does NASA do to get a rover ready for Mars? JPL's paint shop does a thousand different paint jobs a year. And while every piece of spacecraft that comes through the shop is important, one headed for the Red Planet adds a little extra oomph.
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Mars Report: May 2018
May 24, 2018
What's the latest news from Mars? NASA's InSight lander and MarCO CubeSats are on their way to the Red Planet, a tiny helicopter will hitch a ride with the Mars 2020 rover mission, and Curiosity's drill is back in business! For more Mars exploration updates, visit https://mars.nasa.gov .
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NASA Mars Helicopter Technology Demonstration
May 11, 2018
The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will fly as a secondary payload with the Mars 2020 mission. It will demonstrate the potential of aerial flight on Mars, which may enable more ambitious missions in the future.
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Mars Report: February 2018
February 26, 2018
NASA's Curiosity finds crystals, Opportunity celebrates her 5,000th day on Mars and the MarCO smallsats get solar arrays.
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Engineering for Mars: Mars 2020 Mission
December 07, 2017
Watch hardware for NASA's next Mars rover mission being built at JPL in this interactive 360 video.
Watch the interactive 360 video on YouTube >> -
NASA Begins Building its Next Mars Rover Mission
November 28, 2017
In just a couple of years, NASA's newest rover will be flying to Mars.
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NASA’s Mars 2020 Supersonic Parachute: Test Flight #1
November 14, 2017
The first flight of an advanced supersonic parachute system for Mars 2020. The test took place on Oct. 4, 2017 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.
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Mars 2020 Rover Model Video
November 29, 2016
This artist's concept video shows NASA's Mars 2020 rover raising its head (its mast) and reaching out its robotic arm.
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50 Years of Mars Exploration
August 20, 2015
Five decades of successful NASA missions to the Red Planet, 1965-2015.
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Proposed 2020 Mars Rover Science Goals
July 09, 2013
A team of scientists and engineers gives proposals for NASA's 2020 Mars rover mission.
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Mars in a Minute: What Happens When the Sun Blocks our Signal?
March 20, 2013
How can you communicate with Mars spacecraft when the Sun is in the way? Learn more about 'solar conjunction' in this 60-second video.
