But this new, more advanced rover is unlike any other previously sent to Mars.
Here s how Perseverance is different from NASA s past Mars rovers:
First sample-return mission
Perseverance s mission marks the first time NASA will attempt to collect Martian rock samples and bring them back to Earth.
Throughout its mission, Perseverance will seek signs that there was once living organisms on Mars, but the only way to confirm there was indeed life on Mars is to bring back those Martian rock samples to Earth for scientists to study.
That won t happen for years, though. The mission to go collect those samples is currently slated to launch no earlier than 2026.
YES! NASA s Perseverance Just Successfully Landed on Mars sciencealert.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sciencealert.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Watch: Perseverance Rover's Mars Lands On The Red Planet - Los Angeles, CA - Designed by Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA'S Perseverance rover made history Thursday.
They call it ``seven minutes of terror,'' those treacherous final moments of a 292-million-mile journey from Earth to Mars that will culminate today when the Perseverance rover built at Jet Propulsion Laboratory enters the Martian atmosphere and touches down on the planet's surface.
NASA’s Perseverance rover has landed, and it will soon start taking dust samples to be returned to Earth and searching for evidence of ancient life on Mars