NASA recently released this inspirational video in preparation of the targeted July 30, 2020 launch of its newest Mars rover, Perseverance (along with the Ingenuity helicopter!) Give it a watch. It’s good.

Formerly known only as Mars 2020, the name Perseverance was announced on March 5, 2020 by Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. A Burke, Virginia seventh grade student, Alexander Mather, submitted the winning entry to NASA’s “Name the Rover” essay contest which received 28,000 entries from students across the U.S.

“Perseverance sets a new bar for our ambitions at Mars. We will get closer than ever before to answering some of science’s longest-standing questions about the Red Planet, including whether life ever arose there.”
— Lori Glaze, planetary science director for NASA

Perseverance is a robotic scientist weighing about 2,260 pounds (1,025 kilograms). The rover’s astrobiology mission will search for signs of past microbial life. It will characterize the planet’s climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth, and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

No matter what day Perseverance launches during its July 17–Aug. 11 launch period (currently targeted for July 30) it will land at Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

Learn more about the mission: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Video credits:
Produced by brother
Directed by Theodore Melfi
Narrated by Octavia Spencer
Music Credit: RONE – MOTION III
Composed and produced by Erwan Castex
Arranged by Romain Allender
Performed by Rone, Vanessa Wagner & Les siècles Orchestra iF3073 – ℗ & © 2018 InFiné
Published by InFiné Éditions / Warner Chappell Music Publishing

Main image: NASA/JPL-Caltech