NEWS | June 15, 2020
NASA to Hold Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Launch Briefing
Learn more about the agency's next Red Planet mission during a live event on June 17.
NASA leadership and a panel of scientists and engineers will preview NASA's next mission to the Red Planet, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, at a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. PDT) on Wednesday, June 17. The live briefing will stream on Facebook, Ustream, YouTube, Twitter, NASA Television and the agency's website.
Perseverance is a robotic scientist weighing just under 2,300 pounds (1,025 kilograms). The rover's astrobiology mission will search for signs of past microbial life on Mars, characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect rock and soil samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
The mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Scheduled for 9:15 a.m. EDT (6:15 a.m. PDT) July 20, the launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program. No matter what day Perseverance lifts off during its launch period, it will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
Briefing participants will be:
- Jim Bridenstine, NASA administrator
- Lori Glaze, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division at Headquarters in Washington
- Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California
- Matt Wallace, Perseverance deputy project manager at JPL
- Luis Dominguez, Perseverance deputy electrical integration and test lead at JPL
- Omar Baez, launch director in NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Members of the media and the public may ask questions on social media during the briefing using #AskNASA.
The mission is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:15 a.m. EDT (6:15 a.m. PDT) July 20. The launch is managed by NASA's Launch Services Program. It will land at Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.
For more about Perseverance:
and
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
News Media Contacts
Alana Johnson / Grey Hautaluoma
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668
alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov