Mission Timeline

In this illustration of its descent to Mars, the spacecraft containing NASA’s Perseverance rover slows down using the drag generated by its motion in the Martian atmosphere. Hundreds of critical ev...

NASA's Mars 2020 rover looks at the horizon in this artist’s concept. 

Will Allen with engineering models of the (clockwise from bottom) Sojourner rover, a Mars Exploration Rover, and Curiosity in JPL's Mars Yard in the early 2000s.

This map shows regions in and around Mars' Jezero Crater, the landing site of NASA's Perseverance rover. The green circle represents the rover's landing ellipse, or the area where it will be landin...

This illustration ‘cracks the code’ for the Product Identification Number inscribed on the right side of the Mars 2020 mission name plate, located on the robotic arm of the Perseverance rover. 

JPL engineers are working on a small helicopter that could 'scout' a trail for future Mars rovers, but getting a chopper that could fly in the Martian atmosphere is tricky.

This illustration depicts the exterior of a sample tube being carried aboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.

The Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this view of the rover’s deck on Feb. 20, 2021. This view provides a good look at PIXL, one of the instruments on ...

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 po...

This image of the “South Séítah” region of Jezero Crater was captured by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its 12th flight at Mars, on Aug. 16, 2021, and has proven useful to the Perseverance...

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 r...

Attitude Control Systems lead Chris Pong donned a dinosaur-themed mask for his participation in the Mars 2020 mission’s second trajectory correction maneuver at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in ...

The HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to capture this image of the final location of the heat shield that helped protect NASA’s Perseverance rover during its landing ...

An illustration of the planet Mars, highlighting NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover and future human explorers.

In this photo taken on Oct. 1, 2019, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (between left and center rover wheels) have just completed a multiweek evaluation under Mars-...

​Flight tests of the Mars 2020 Lander Vision System, which will help guide NASA's next Mars mission to a safe touchdown on the Red Planet, are taking place in the California desert.

With its heat shield facing the planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover begins its descent through the Martian atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exac...

Bill Allen in JPL's Mars Yard in early 2020.

In just a couple of years, NASA’s newest rover will be flying to Mars. The Mars 2020 mission will use the next generation of science and landing technology to collect rock samples for possible retu...

Members of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter team in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory prepare to receive the data downlink showing whether the helicopter completed...

This is an image of artwork etched onto the titanium plate that is mounted on the lower section of the Mars Perseverance rover’s 7-foot robotic arm.

For the first time, a spacecraft on another planet has recorded the sounds of a separate spacecraft. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its SuperCam microphone to listen to the Ingenuity helicopte...

This high-definition image was taken on Sept. 7, 2018, during the third and final test flight of the ASPIRE payload. It was the fastest inflation of this size parachute in history and created a pea...

Members of the NASA Mars Helicopter team attach a thermal film to the exterior of the flight model of the Mars Helicopter. 

Scientists from NASA's Mars 2020 mission and the European Space Agency-Roscosmos ExoMars mission are in the Australian Outback to hone research techniques before their missions launch to the Red Pl...