NASA’s next-generation Mars rover Perseverance has blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $US2.4 billion ($3.36 billion) mission to search for traces of potential past life on Earth’s planetary neighbour.
Key points:
- The Mars rover launch took place after the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Californa was rattled by an earthquake
- Perseverance is due to land in the Jezero crater on Mars in February next year.
- Perserverance is carrying a 1.8kg autonomous helicopter called Ingenuity which will test powered flight on Mars
The next-generation robotic rover — a car-sized six-wheeled scientific vehicle — is scheduled to deploy a mini helicopter on Mars and test out equipment for future human missions to the fourth planet from the Sun. It is expected to reach Mars next February.
It soared into the sky under clear, sunny and warm conditions carried by an Atlas 5 rocket from the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance.
The launch took place after the Jet Propul