Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – For nearly 10 years, hundreds of people at NASA have been developing the agency’s most advanced robotic explorer to date: the Perseverance Rover rover.
The critical moment is approaching, as the spacecraft is scheduled to land on Mars today, Thursday, at 3:55 PM ET.
The mission may have witnessed its most difficult stage during the final phase, before its launch in July during the outbreak of the Corona pandemic. But, just like its name, which means “persevere,” its team persevered, launching the rover instead of giving in to a delay that would cost enormous scientific and material losses.
The rover pays tribute to health care workers around the world, with an aluminum plate on the left side of the vehicle’s hull, showing planet Earth attached to the “Asclepius wand”, the ancient symbol of a snake wrapped around a stick, which represents the global medical community.
Perseverance also has the names of about 11 million people engraved on three silicon chips. NASA says the spacecraft is a robotic scientist exploring Mars on behalf of humanity, and will be able to share what it sees and hears through 23 cameras, including a video camera and two microphones.
And the agency “NASA” has been sending missions to explore Mars since 1965, to share pictures and information gained about the planet’s neighbor.
Mars is one of the most accessible places in the solar system for sending missions, but it also has a mysterious history, as it may have resembled Earth many times in time, making it one of the ideal destinations for the search for ancient life.
The NASA “Perseverance” mission is one of the three missions launched from Earth last July, including the Emirati “Hope Probe” and the Chinese “Tianwen 1” mission.
And at the beginning of this month, the Hope Probe arrived at the Red Planet on February 9, while the Chinese “Tianwen-1” mission followed, to reach Mars on February 10.
It had launched all 3 missions around the same time due to the alignment between Mars and Earth on the same side of the Sun, which makes the trip to Mars much more efficient.
The Hope Probe will orbit the planet, while Tianwen 1 will orbit and land on the planet, and Perseverance will land on Mars.
Learn more about the details of the 3 missions to Mars in the above infographic:
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