News > NASA postpones Mars rover Perseverance launch to July 20

NASA postpones Mars rover Perseverance launch to July 20

The Perseverance rover, a robotic scientist weighing 1,025 kg, will search for signs of past microbial life on Mars and also collect samples for future return to Earth. NASA and ULA are now targeting Monday, July 20, for launch of the Mars 2020 mission of the Perseverance Rover on an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida

Perseverance is part of a larger programme that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.