Mission Timeline

The Range Trigger technique shrinks the Mars 2020 rovers landing ellipse significantly, landing the rover closer to the target area of greatest scientific interest. This example shows Mars 2020's e...

This artist's concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.

Close-up of a slice of a meteorite scientists have determined came from Mars. This slice will likely be used here on Earth for testing a laser instrument for NASA's Mars 2020 rover; a separate slic...

Two members of the field team set up cameras as part of the simulated rover operation. The images they provided were intended to stand in for what a rover's instruments might send back from Mars. 

Engineers install the SuperCam instrument on Mars 2020's rover. This image was taken on June 25, 2019, in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

The helicopter was tested on a stand while the cruise stage was tested on the rotation fixture. 

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars 2020 mission with the Perseverance rover lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at 7:50 a.m. EDT on July 30, 2020.

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with NASA's Mars 2020 mission with the Perseverance rover rolls from the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-...

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.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission's disk-shaped cruise stage sits atop the back shell, which contains the powered descent stage and Perseverance rover. The brass-colored heat shield below is...

A crane lifts the rocket-powered descent stage away from NASA's Mars 2020 rover after technicians tested the pyrotechnic charges that separate the two spacecraft.

The launch period window for NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance opens on July 20, 2020. The mission marks humanity's first step in returning samples from another planet and will seek past signs on Mars ...

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 ...

This is the top-down view into a sample tube is the type of image CacheCam provides to the Mars 2020 team.

In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet. This will be NASA's fifth Mars launch on an Atlas V, which...

When she moved to the U.S. from Colombia, NASA-JPL engineer Diana Trujillo didn’t speak English. She paid her way through college by cleaning houses, learned English, and is now working to send her...

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen on the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 after being rolled out of the Vertical Integration Faci...

Peer over the shoulders of our engineers as they build hardware for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. 

Ian Clark walks past mission countdown clocks in the Perseverance offices at JPL. Clark was needed on-Lab to supervise the assembly and cleaning of the sample tubes that will hold Martian sediment ...

This artist's rendition depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover studying a Mars rock outrcrop.

This illustration shows the moment after liftoff of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Members from NASA's Mars Helicopter and Mars 2020 teams stand behind the Mars Helicopter.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard is seen as it is rolled out of the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 4...

Illustration of the route Mars 2020 takes to the Red Planet, including several trajectory correction maneuvers (TCMs) to adjust its flight path.

Lighter colors represent higher elevation in this image of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The oval indicates the landing ellipse, where the rover will be touc...