The Mars rover is named "Perseverance." Here are some key facts about the name and the rover:
- Perseverance was named through a nationwide essay contest for K-12 students in the United States. The winning essayist, a seventh-grader from Virginia named Alexander Mather, proposed the name because "it's what our spacecraft has had to do for years, travel through space persevering against all the odds."
- Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. Its mission is to look for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, study the planet's geology and climate, collect rock and soil samples, and prepare them for a future sample-return mission.
- Perseverance is the most advanced Mars rover ever built. It is equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, including cameras, spectrometers, a laser, and a drill, that will allow it to study the Martian surface in unprecedented detail.
- Perseverance is also carrying a number of new technologies, including a helicopter called Ingenuity that will attempt the first powered flight on another planet.
