News: NASA’s Perseverance rover detected electrical activity in Mars’ atmosphere for the first time, using its SuperCam instrument.
About Perseverance Rover
- Perseverance is a semi-autonomous car-sized rover sent in NASA’s Mars 2020 Mission to explore Mars.
- Landing: It is the first rover to land in an ancient Martian river delta, located inside the Jezero crater.
- Objective: Its objective is to seek signs of ancient microbial life on Mars and to collect rock and soil samples for future return to Earth.
- It also aims to characterize the planet’s geology and past climate and to test technologies that will help prepare for human exploration.
- Same as Curiosity: It is built from the same basic design as Curiosity, which landed on Mars about a decade before Perseverance.
- Shape: It has a rectangular body with six wheels, a robotic arm, a drill for rock sampling, cameras and scientific instruments.
- Powered by: It is powered by a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), a nuclear battery that converts heat from radioactive decay into electricity.
NASA’s Mars 2020 Mission
- Its main job is to seek signs of ancient life and to collect rock samples for possible return to Earth.
- Launched on: The mission was launched on July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- Landing: It landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021.
