Here's how to watch NASA's Perseverance rover land on Mars on Thursday

Editor's note: NASA's Perseverance rover successfully touched down on Mars on Feb. 18. Read the full story here


NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is just days away from a harrowing landing on the Red Planet Thursday (Feb. 18) and you'll be able to watch the historic event unfold live online. 

The Perseverance rover will land on Mars on Thursday at 3:55 p.m. EST (2055 GMT), but NASA's webcasts for the event actually begin today (Feb. 16) at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT). 

NASA's live landing broadcast on Thursday begins at 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT). You'll be able to watch that live here and on Space.com's homepage, courtesy of NASA, or directly from NASA's YouTube channel. Spanish speakers will have another broadcast available on a NASA Spanish channel in what will be the agency's first Spanish-language landing show. You can ask questions on any of NASA's social media feeds (@NASA) using the hashtag #CountdowntoMars.  

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Join our forums here to discuss the Perseverance Mars rover landing. What do you hope finds?

Launched in July 2020, Perseverance is the latest in a series of missions focused on assessing how habitable Mars was in the ancient past. The mission represents a crucial pivot point in NASA's Mars exploration because the rover will cache the most promising samples for a future Mars sample-return mission to Earth later this decade, if everything goes to schedule.

Another historic first for the Perseverance mission will be a helicopter, called Ingenuity, that will test flying on Mars for the first time. The hope is to use such small drones for scouting ahead of astronaut missions, or exploring dangerous regions, in future Mars missions.

Read on for our NASA TV webcast guide for NASA's Mars Perseverance rover landing this week. NASA also has a Mars 2020 rover STEM toolkit available here for students and teachers.

Tuesday, Feb. 16

Press conferences on NASA TV/JPL YouTube

  • 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT): News briefing covering a mission overview and technology.  Ask questions at @NASA using #CountdownToMars.   
  • 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT): News briefing covering a science overview. Ask questions at @NASA using #CountdownToMars.
  • 7 p.m. EST (2300 GMT): NASA Social Mars Perseverance event on YouTube

Student briefings on JPL Education Channel

  • 11:30 a.m. EST (1640 GMT): High school student countdown to landing.  To ask questions, register here
  • 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT): Middle-school students countdown to landing webcast. To ask questions, register here.

Wednesday, Feb. 17

Press conferences on NASA TV/JPL YouTube

  • 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT): News briefing including a mission status update and a preview of the next day's landing activities. Ask questions at @NASA using #CountdownToMars.
  • 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT): News briefing including a discussion of ancient life and Mars sample return. Ask questions at @NASA using #CountdownToMars.

Student briefings on JPL Education Channel

  •  12:30 p.m. EST (1750 GMT): Elementary school student countdown to landing.  
  • To ask questions, register here.

Thursday, Feb. 18 (landing day) and beyond

Landing day webcasts on NASA TV/JPL YouTube

  • 2:15 p.m. EST (1915 GMT): NASA Mars rover Perseverance landing webcast begins
  • 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT): NASA's Spanish-language Perseverance landing webcast begins
  • 3:55 p.m. EST (2055 GMT): LANDING TIME for Mars rover Perseverance
  • Around 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT): Post landing press conference. 

Post-landing update briefings NASA TV/JPL YouTube

  •  Friday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT): Perseverance rover update. 
  •  Monday, Feb. 22 at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT): Perseverance rover update.  

You can also  join the Perseverance Mars rover landing virtually by signing up for NASA's social media event here. NASA also has a "virtual guest experience" available for the public to participate in to celebrate the landing.

Visit Space.com Thursday for complete coverage of the Perseverance Mars rover's landing on the Red Planet.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace