CHARLOTTE, N.C. — February will see another historic day for space exploration as NASA's newest and most innovative rover will land on Mars on Feb. 18.
The landing will happen after six months and more than 300 million miles of travel to reach the Red Planet. The last time a rover landed on Mars was back in 2012.
One out of every two spacecraft headed to Mars never actually make it and the mission's cost is a whopping $2.4 billion with eight years of development. The Perseverance Rover is the most ambitious project in the history of NASA's Mars exploration.
“To say we’re pumped about it, well that would be a huge understatement,” said Lori Glaze, NASA’s planetary science director.
Perseverance is the size of an SUV and will explore the Mars surface, searching for any signs of ancient life, plus collecting rocks and sediment for a future return to Earth. The rover will also study the planet's geology and climate, paving the way for human exploration beyond the moon.
One of the most interesting parts of the project will be collecting the first sounds from Mars. This will allow scientists and eventually, everyone, to hear what Mars really sounds like.
Perseverance is landing in the most challenging Martian terrain ever targeted. It's an area known as Jezero Crater. Scientists want to explore and investigate this crater because they believe it was once filled with flowing water. That means there’s the possibility that Mars had the right environment to support ancient life.