Perseverance Mars rover

NASA's Mars rover Perseverance is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021. The new rover will search for signs of habitable environments on Mars and evidence of past microbial life. It will also cache samples of the Red Planet to return to Earth for a future Mars sample-return mission. See the latest news about NASA's Perseverance Mars rover here!

Related topics: Mars, Curiosity rover, ExoMars

Latest Updates

A photograph of the Ingenuity helicopter's shadow on the Martian surface captured during the chopper's 16th flight, on Nov. 21, 2021.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity soars on 16th Red Planet flight

By Meghan Bartels last updated

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity has aced yet another Red Planet flight, the little chopper's 16th sortie.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter conducts its 13th Red Planet flight in this image captured by the Mastcam-Z camera system on NASA’s Perseverance rover.

Watch Ingenuity Mars helicopter soar in amazing new videos from Perseverance rover

By Mike Wall published

Stunning new videos show NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity soaring through the Red Planet skies like never before.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover snapped this photo of a rock core sample — the third collected so far by the robot on the Red Planet— on Nov. 15, 2021.

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars just collected its 3rd sample of the Red Planet (photos)

By Mike Wall published

The car-sized Perseverance rover drilled a core sample on Monday (Nov. 15), filling a titanium tube with Red Planet rock for the third time ever.

An artist's depiction of the Ingenuity helicopter and Perseverance rover after the aircraft's deployment from the larger spacecraft's belly.

'Twins' of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover and Ingenuity helicopter are touring the US

By Elizabeth Howell published

Life-size replicas of NASA's Perseverance rover and Mars helicopter Ingenuity are touring the United States over the next year.

perseverance mars

Perseverance rover on Mars bites into layered rocks in hunt for clues of ancient water

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has begun scraping away at an intriguing set of layered rocks that may have formed in liquid water.

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity captured this photo of its own shadow during its 15th Red Planet flight, on Nov. 6, 2021.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 15th Red Planet flight

By Mike Wall published

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity completed its 15th Red Planet flight on Saturday (Nov. 6), staying aloft for more than 2 minutes.

This photo from NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity shows the drone's shadow on the Martian surface during its 14th flight, which occurred Oct. 24, 2021.

Watch NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity take its 14th flight in this full video

By Elizabeth Howell published

A new video shows NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity as it completed its latest daring brief flight hop in the thinning atmosphere of the Red Planet.

These intriguingly layered rocks are a potential sampling target for NASA's Mars rover Perseverance, mission team members said via Twitter, where they posted this photo on Nov. 4, 2021.

New Perseverance rover photos from Mars show tantalizing layered rocks

By Elizabeth Howell published

These strikingly layered Mars rocks may be the Perseverance rover's next sampling target.

A selfie taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021.

You can help NASA train Mars rovers for the Red Planet

By Elizabeth Howell published

You can help NASA make its Mars rovers even better explorers.

NASA's Perseverance rover captured this shot of its surroundings on the floor of Jezero Crater on Oct. 22, 2021, using one of its navigation cameras. Mission team members posted the image on Twitter three days later.

Perseverance rover snaps first Mars photos after communications blackout. They're stunning.

By Mike Wall published

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has emerged from its first "solar conjunction" blackout and gotten back to work on the Red Planet.

This photo from NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity shows the drone's shadow on the Martian surface during its 14th flight, which occurred Oct. 24, 2021.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity soars through Red Planet's summer air after radio blackout (video)

By Samantha Mathewson published

NASA's helicopter Ingenuity has successfully completed its 14th test flight on the Red Planet, demonstrating its ability to fly in summer weather conditions on Mars.

A "selfie" of the Perseverance rover, which landed Feb. 18, 2021.

Hear sounds from Mars captured by NASA's Perseverance rover

By Elizabeth Howell last updated

NASA's Perseverance rover has recorded up to five hours of sounds on the Mars, giving engineers a sense of how the Red Planet sounds different from Earth.

A photograph taken by the Perseverance rover of the Ingenuity helicopter on the surface of Mars in April, just after the rover deployed the chopper.

The Mars helicopter Ingenuity is ready to fly again after interplanetary radio blackout

By Meghan Bartels published

NASA's Mars helicopter is ready to make its first flight attempt after a two-week communications blackout caused by the sun's being directly between Earth and the Red Planet.

Perseverance took a selfie next to its biggest accomplishment yet – the two small drill holes where the rover took samples of Martian rocks.

Perseverance's first major successes on Mars — an update from mission scientists

By Melissa Rice, Briony Horgan published

In the short time since NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Mars' Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, it's already made history.

Inferred paleolake level inside Mars’ Jezero Crater at the time of Kodiak sediment deposition. The red star indicates theOctavia E. Butler (OEB) landing site of NASA’s Perseverance rover. Background from the Context Camera (CTX) mosaic.

Perseverance rover confirms existence of ancient Mars lake and river delta

By Mike Wall last updated

Photos snapped by Perseverance show that Jezero Crater did indeed host a large river-fed lake in the ancient past.

NASA's Perseverance rover acquired this image of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter on the floor of Jezero Crater.

Mars helicopter Ingenuity aborted latest flight attempt because of anomaly

By Mike Wall published

NASA's Mars helicopter Ingenuity didn't get off the ground as planned earlier this month.

NASA's Mars missions will go offline during a temporary communications blackout in October 2021. (Clockwise, from top left: Perseverance rover, Ingenuity helicopter, InSight lander, Odyssey orbiter, MAVEN orbiter, Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter)

NASA Mars missions facing 2-week communications blackout as sun blocks Red Planet

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA plans to pause most of its Martian work in October for safety reasons associated with the Red Planet's position in space.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie over a rock nicknamed "Rochette," on Sept. 10, 2021.

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover snaps an epic selfie along with 'mission-critical' views of Red Planet

By Samantha Mathewson published

NASA's Perseverance rover has compiled a variety of photos since landing at its new home on Mars in February, offering a more comprehensive view of the Red Planet.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flew over these sand dunes and rocks during its ninth flight, on July 5, 2021.

Flying on Mars getting tougher as Ingenuity helicopter gears up for 14th hop

By Elizabeth Howell published

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is getting ready for its 14th Red Planet flight, but the thinning Martian air is making such sorties more and more challenging.

An image taken by the Perseverance rover on Mars shows a rock called Rochette with holes where the rover obtained its first two samples.

NASA's Perseverance rover has taken the 1st steps in decades-long dream of Mars sample return

By Meghan Bartels published

NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars has begun its out-of-this-world rock collection.