On July 30, 2020, an Atlas V 541 launched a new Mars rover, named by Alexander Mather, a seventh grader, as Perseverance. The launch went off without a hitch (unless you count California earthquakes as hitches), and Perseverance in its aeroshell zoomed off towards our red neighbor to collect scientific data about possible life. Seven months later, Perseverance has begun its mission on Mars after a successful landing using a very new system. The landing system had only been used on one prior mission, Curiosity’s mission in 2013. This landing system is the sky crane, a rocket powered crane that … Continue reading NASA JPL’s Perseverance Mars Rover