NASA's Perseverance Rover Set To Land On Mars; Know All About It

After travelling nearly 48,28,02,200 kilometers from Earth, NASA's Perseverance rover will finally land on Mars on February 19. Launched on July 30 last year, the car-size Perseverance rover is the biggest, heaviest and most sophisticated robotic geologist probe ever launched in to space, says NASA. Moreover, it will be the agency's ninth Mars mission while Perseverance is the fifth rover attempting to touchdown the red planet. The six-wheel rover has been tasked with characterizing the Mars' geology and climate, but is most importantly focused on astrobiology i.e. study of life throughout the universe. The NASA mission will search for signs of microbial life for nearly one Mars year (two Earth years) and collect rock core samples to be returned to Earth for further analysis. As per NASA, scientists are optimistic for biosignatures as the 45-kilometer-wide Jezero Crater (rover's landing site) once housed a large lake some 3.5 billion years ago. General public can connect with the rover via NASA's official website and all social media handles for the live-coverage starting 12:45 AM (IST) on February 19 along with the landing scheduled at 2:25 AM.