NASA to Launch Mars Rover in 2020

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.

An Ingenuity team member inspects NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in one of the space simulation chambers at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Animations for media and public use. NASA's Mars Helicopter Ingenuity will be the first aircraft to fly in a controlled way on another planet.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter spotted this location, nicknamed “Raised Ridges,” during its ninth flight, on July 5. Scientists hope to visit “Raised Ridges” with the Perseverance rover in the fu...

This set of sounds from the surface of Mars were recorded by the microphone on the side of NASA’s Perseverance Rover on February 20, 2021.

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover secured inside arrives at the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canave...

A close-up of the rock, nicknamed “Rochette,” that the Perseverance science team will examine in order to determine whether to take a rock core sample from it.

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

The United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster for NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is lifted up in the Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in F...

Members of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter team in the Space Flight Operations Facility at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory react to data showing that the helicopter completed its first flight on April...

Bob Balaram, Teddy Tzanetos and Havard Grip from the NASA Mars Helicopter project discuss the sequence of events for the day’s flight testing. 

The first flight of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter – and the first powered, controlled flight on another planet – was captured in this image from Mastcam-Z, a pair of zoomable cameras aboard NASA...

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, Per...

Members of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory react to data showing that the helicopter completed its second flight on the Red Planet on April 22, 2021.

NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter can be seen on Mars as viewed by the Perseverance rover’s rear Hazard Camera on April 4, 2021, the 44th Martian day, or sol of the mission.

The Mars Helicopter Base Station, seen here as the upper, gold-colored box near the back of NASA’s Perseverance rover, stores and routes communications between NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and ...

The completed spacecraft that will carry the Mars 2020 rover to the Red Planet, next year hangs suspended by cables inside the Space Simulator Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasade...

This colorful illustration depicts NASA’s Perseverance Rover on Mars, where it landed in February 2021.

This graphic depicts Perseverance’s entry into “Séítah” from both an orbital and subsurface perspective. The lower image is a subsurface “radargram” from the rover’s RIMFAX instrument; the red line...

The drill hole from Perseverance's second sample-collection attempt can be seen, in this composite of two images taken on Sept. 1, by one of the rover’s navigation cameras. 

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

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

This panorama of a location called “Brac” was captured by the Mastcam-Z camera aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover between Nov. 6 and Nov. 17, 2021, the 255th and 265th Martian days, or sols, of ...

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 ...

PIXL opens its dust cover during testing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. One of seven instruments on NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, PIXL is located on the end of the rover's robotic arm.