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Nasa Mars rover Perseverance robot launches to detect life on Red Planet
(World News) 3 years ago

The US space agency's Perseverance robot has left Earth on a mission to try to detect life on Mars.

The one-tonne, six-wheeled rover was launched out of Florida by an Atlas rocket on a path to intercept the Red Planet in February next year.

When it lands, the Nasa robot will also gather rock and soil samples to be sent home later this decade.

Perseverance is the third mission despatched to Mars inside 11 days, after launches by the UAE and China.

Lift-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station occurred at 07:50 local time (12:50 BST; 11:50 GMT).

Nasa made this mission one of its absolute priorities when the coronavirus crisis struck, establishing special work practices to ensure Perseverance met its launch deadline.

Scientists say the rocks that formed in this environment stand a good chance of retaining evidence of past microbial activity - if ever that existed on the planet.

Perseverance will spend at least one Martian year (equivalent to roughly two Earth years) investigating the possibility.

Unlike the previous four rovers Nasa has sent to Mars, its new machine is equipped to directly detect life - either current or in fossilised form.

But any evidence it uncovers will almost certainly have its sceptics, which is why researchers want to bring whatever Perseverance finds back home for the deeper analysis only sophisticated laboratories on Earth can perform.

The rover will therefore package its most interesting rock discoveries in small tubes. An elaborate mix of future missions will then launch later this decade to try to retrieve these samples.


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