Mars 2020
Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover Perseverance, the now-retired small robotic helicopter Ingenuity, and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars 2020 was launched on an Atlas V rocket at 11:50:01 UTC on 30 July 2020, and landed in the Martian crater Jezero on 18 February 2021 with confirmation received at 20:55 UTC. On 5 March 2021, NASA named the landing site Octavia E. Butler Landing. As of 13 February 2024, Perseverance has been on Mars for 1061 sols (1090 total days; 2 years, 360 days). Ingenuity operated on Mars for 1042 sols (1071 total days; 1 year, 341 days) before sustaining serious damage to its rotor blades, possibly all four, causing NASA to retire the craft on 25 January 2024.
| Mission type | Mars exploration |
|---|---|
| Operator | |
| COSPAR ID | 2020-052A |
| SATCAT no. | 45983 |
| Mission duration | 1 Mars year (668 sols, 687 Earth days) (planned) Perseverance: 2 years, 11 months and 26 days (since landing) Ingenuity: 2 years, 9 months and 22 days (final) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Perseverance Ingenuity |
| Launch mass | 3,649 kg (8,045 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 30 July 2020, 11:50:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Atlas V 541 (AV-088) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral, SLC-41 |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Mars rover | |
| Landing date | 18 February 2021 |
| Landing site | Octavia E. Butler Landing, Jezero 18.4447°N 77.4508°E |
| Distance driven | 23.73 km (14.75 mi) as of 3 January 2024 |
| Mars aircraft | |
| Landing date | 3 April 2021 (Deployed from Perseverance) |
| Landing site | Helipad at Wright Brothers Field near Octavia E. Butler Landing, Jezero 18.44486°N 77.45102°E |
| Distance flown | 17.242 km (10.714 mi) in 72 flights |
| NASA and JPL insignias | |
Perseverance is investigating an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars for its surface geological processes and history, and assessing its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars, and the potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials. It will cache sample containers along its route for retrieval by a potential future Mars sample-return mission. The Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA in December 2012 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Perseverance's design is derived from the rover Curiosity, and it uses many components already fabricated and tested in addition to new scientific instruments and a core drill. The rover also employs nineteen cameras and two microphones, allowing for the audio recording of the Martian environment. On 30 April 2021, Perseverance became the first spacecraft to hear and record another spacecraft, the Ingenuity helicopter, on another planet.
The launch of Mars 2020 was the third of three space missions sent toward Mars during the July 2020 Mars launch window, with missions also launched by the national space agencies of the United Arab Emirates (the Emirates Mars Mission with the orbiter Hope on 19 July 2020) and China (the Tianwen-1 mission on 23 July 2020, with an orbiter, deployable and remote cameras, lander, and Zhurong rover).