Mission Objectives Don't chute the messenger! Martian Included within the pattern on the inside of Looking for Habitability the rover's parachute was a hidden message. Exploring the Martian landscape to Binary code was used to spell out the phrase discover environments that could Dare Mighty Things, a motto used by NASA’s have once supported microbial life. Mysteries Jet Propulsion Laboratory, along with GPS coordinates for the lab's location in California. Seeking Biosignatures Perseverance and the Studying suitable environments Search for Life on Mars in search of evidence of ancient Martian lifeforms. Caching Samples ars has always been a source of marvel. Collecting rock and soil, to be M It captivated ancient civilizations, it's red hue stored until a future mission can setting it apart from other points of light in the night collect them for analysis on Earth. sky. Even in recent history, some suggested it was home to alien life, until Mariner 4 got close enough ONE Preparing for Humans to reveal a lifeless and barren planet. However, in Atmospheric Entry Testing oxygen production in the last few decades the true nature of Mars has and Deceleration Mars' hostile atmosphere, to help begun to emerge. We’ve discovered a place that has TOUCHDOWN IN... inform future human missions. substantially changed over time. An environment Approx. 7 mins where water once shaped the landscape and still sits ALTITUDE VELOCITY within icy polar regions and deep underground. And 131 km <5000 m/s Mission Technology a planet where microbial life may have once existed, TWO and perhaps against all odds still does. The aeroshell protects Parachute Deploy Ingenuity Helicopter the rover during its Our greatest tools in this journey of discovery are TOUCHDOWN IN... A small autonomous helicopter turbulent descent the Mars rovers, a series of robotic vehicles laden 2 mins 50 secs that will attempt the first powered through the Martian with scientific instruments. The latest addition to ALTITUDE VELOCITY flight on another planet. atmosphere. During these intrepid explorers is Perseverance. It will build 9-13 km 420 m/s entry the heat shield on the impressive legacy of the previous rovers; Mastcam-Z reaches around 1,300 The heat shield THREE seeking new knowledge, searching for evidence of A camera that can capture high-res degrees Celsius. helps to slow descent Heat Shield life, and helping to prepare us for a day in the not images and video of the Martian considerably, but it's Separation too distant future when Martian explorers will leave surface and atmosphere. not nearly enough. footprints rather than tire tracks. TOUCHDOWN IN... A parachute, almost 2 mins 30 secs MEDA 22 meters in diameter, ALTITUDE VELOCITY A tool that will measure things like deploys to provide 7-11 km 180 m/s weather, temperature and dust This infographic provides a comparison of Mars additional drag. FOUR levels in the Martian atmosphere. rovers, explores the arrival of Perseverance on The heat shield Rader Lock and Mars, and details its tools and mission objectives. detaches and the Terrain Navigation MOXIE rover is exposed to the TOUCHDOWN IN... An experiment to produce Martian atmosphere 2 mins - 1 min 20 secs oxygen on Mars, in preparation for the first time. Key Mars Rovers by the Numbers ALTITUDE VELOCITY for future human missions. cameras and other 4-8 km 100 m/s instruments begin to FIVE PIXL Touchdown Weight Height Mission (planned) Mission (actual) Distance travelled on Mars prepare for landing. A special camera Backshell An X-ray spectrometer that will quickly scans the Separation study the chemical composition surface and compares TOUCHDOWN IN... of Martian rocks at a tiny scale. Sojourner Spirit Opportunity Curiosity Perseverance what it sees to an on- 1 min SIX board map, ensuring ALTITUDE VELOCITY Rover Separation RIMFAX Jul 4, '97 Jan 4, '04 Jan 25, '04 Aug 6, '12 Feb 18, '21 that it's approaching a 2 km 89 m/s A tool that uses radar waves location that's suitable TOUCHDOWN IN... 11.5 kg 174 kg 174 kg 900 kg 900 kg to discover geological features for a safe landing. The parachute has 12 secs underneath the surface of Mars. 65 cm 1.6 m 1.6 m 3 m 3 m further reduced the ALTITUDE VELOCITY rate of descent, but 20 m 0.75 m/s 7 sols 90 sols 90 sols 668 sols 668 sols SHERLOC it's still not enough. Perseverance is A suite of cameras, spectrometers 83 sols 2208 sols 5,352 sols Ongoing Ongoing Perseverance must lowered to the surface and a laser to detect minerals and detach itself and finish 100 m 7.73 km 45.16 km 24.85 km* 100 m* on a set of cables. potential biosignatures. the journey with the Hmm, you look familiar... Once on the ground, it assistance of rockets. Perseverance is based on the design of Curiosity, cuts the cords, allowing SuperCam and the two rovers look very similar. There are the descent stage to fly A collection of tools to identify the some key differences though; Perseverance has away and crash-land at composition of rocks and soils, down more robust wheels, a longer and stronger robotic a safe distance. to an atomic and molecular level. arm, and a new sampling and caching system. 1 sol is approx. 24 hours, 39.5 minutes. *As of March 2021 Sources: NASA, JPL and Wikipedia. Infographic by James Round. See more at www.jamesrounddesign.com.