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First Humans on Mars

This artist's concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.

June 12, 2019

This artist's concept depicts astronauts and human habitats on Mars. NASA's Mars 2020 rover will carry a number of technologies that could make Mars safer and easier to explore for humans.

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NASA

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In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet. This will be NASA's fifth Mars launch on an Atlas V, which...
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In this artist's concept, a two-stage United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle speeds the Mars 2020 spacecraft toward the Red Planet.
Rocket to Mars
MEDLI2 sensors are installed on the Mars 2020 heat shield and back shell prior that will protect NASA's Perseverance rover on its journey to the surface of Mars.
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shield from MEDLI
A Suite of Sensors for a Daring Descent
Mars 2020 rover arrives at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for processing.
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Mars 2020 rover arrives at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center for processing.
Mars 2020 Rover Arrival
This annotated image from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows its wheel tracks in Jezero Crater and a distant view of the first potential location it could deposit a group of sample tubes for poss...
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This annotated image from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows its wheel tracks in Jezero Crater and a distant view of the first potential location it could deposit a group of sample tubes for possible future return to Earth.
Perseverance's View of Possible Future Sample Cache Depot Site
Members of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory react to data showing that the helicopter completed its second flight on the Red Planet on April 22, 2021.
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Members of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory react to data showing that the helicopter completed its second flight on the Red Planet on April 22, 2021.
Ingenuity's Team Reacts to Data Showing Helicopter Completed Its Second Flight
Illustrations of NASA's Curiosity and Mars 2020 rovers. While the newest rover borrows from Curiosity's design, each has its own role in the ongoing exploration of Mars and the search for ancient l...
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Image showing NASA's Curiosity rover to the left and Mars 2020 rover to the right.
Side-by-Side: Curiosity and Mars 2020
This anaglyph, acquired by NASA's Phoenix Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 33, the 33rd Martian day of the mission (June 28, 2008), shows a stereoscopic 3D view of the Martian surface near the...
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This anaglyph, acquired by NASA's Phoenix Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on Sol 33 shows a stereoscopic 3D view of the Martian surface near the lander
Martian Surface as Seen by Phoenix (3-D)
Members of JPL's assembly, test and launch operations team for NASA's Perseverance mission show appreciation for their newly named rover. The image was taken on March 4, 2020, at a payload processi...
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Members of JPL's assembly, test and launch operations team for NASA's Perseverance mission show appreciation for their newly named rover.
Showing Perseverance
The location for NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is shown daily in an interactive map called “Where is Perseverance?”. The tool shows the path taken by the rover (marked in white) and key stops alon...
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Mars Perseverance rover shown daily in an interactive map called “Where is Perseverance?”. The tool shows the path taken by the rover (marked in white) and key stops along the way.
'Where is Perseverance?' Location Map
Engineers and technicians working on the Mars 2020 spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, look on as a crane lifts the rocket-powered descent stage away from the ro...
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Engineers and technicians working on the Mars 2020 spacecraft look on as a crane lifts the rocket-powered descent stage away from the rover after a test.
NASA Mars 2020 Rover Separation Test
In this view from inside the Antonov 124 cargo aircraft, the United Launch Alliance booster for NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is offloaded at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida.
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View from inside the Antonov aircraft as the rocket booster for Mars 2020 is offloaded
Mars 2020 Booster Disembarks
This annotated image depicts the ground tracks of NASA's Perseverance rover (white) and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (green) since arriving on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021.
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This annotated image depicts the ground tracks of NASA's Perseverance rover (white) and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter (green) since arriving on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021.
Ground Tracks of NASA's Perseverance and Ingenuity
This image of Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter during its sixth flight on May 22, 2021.
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This image of Mars was taken from the height of 33 feet (10 meters) by NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter during its sixth flight on May 22, 2021.
Ingenuity Looks West
Perseverance’s first cored sample of Mars rock is sealed inside its titanium container tube in this image taken by rover’s Sampling and Caching System Camera (known as CacheCam).  
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This is a colored image of Perseverance’s first cored sample of Mars rock is sealed inside its titanium container tube in this image taken by rover’s Sampling and Caching System Camera (known as CacheCam). The image was taken on Sept. 6, 2021 (the 194th sol, or Martian day, of the mission), after the seal was attached and hermetically fixed in place onto the tube. The seal’s item and serial numbers can be seen near the center of the disk.
Sealing in Perseverance's First Sample
Conceptual image of wind (blue arrows) flowing over rugged Martian terrain and generating disturbances that propagate upward as atmospheric gravity waves (grey lines). 
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Conceptual image of wind (blue arrows) flowing over rugged Martian terrain and generating disturbances that propagate upward as atmospheric gravity waves (grey lines).
Artist's Concept of Wind Flowing over Martian Terrain
This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover exploring Mars. 
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NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #4
NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Artist's Concept #4
This time-lapse video, which has been sped up by 24 times, uses an engineering model of one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover to show how the instrument evaluates safe placem...
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This time-lapse video, which has been sped up by 24 times, uses an engineering model of one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover to show how the instrument evaluates safe placement against a rock.
How Perseverance's PIXL Gets Close to a Rock Target
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter scouted this ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater because it is of interest to Perseverance rover scientists. Enlarged at right is a close-up of ...
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter scouted this ridgeline near the ancient river delta in Jezero Crater because it is of interest to Perseverance rover scientists. Enlarged at right is a close-up of one of the ridgeline’s rocky outcrops. The image was captured on April 23, during the rotorcraft’s 27th flight.
'Fortun Ridge' Imaged on Ingenuity's Flight 27
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on board launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Flor...
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Image shows the dramatic launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard rom Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Roaring Perseverance Launch
The 21st rock core captured by NASA's Perseverance has a composition that would make it good at trapping and preserving signs of microbial life, if any was once present. The sample – shown being ta...
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The 21st rock core captured by NASA's Perseverance has a composition that would make it good at trapping and preserving signs of microbial life, if any was once present. The sample – shown being taken here – was cored from "Bunsen Peak" on March 11, the 1,088th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
Perseverance Cores 'Bunsen Peak'
This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will be dropping 10 samples that a future mission could pick up. 
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This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will be dropping 10 samples that a future mission could pick up.
A Map of Perseverance's Depot Samples
The upper swashplate of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter controls the pitch of the upper rotor blades as they rotate and is critical to stable, controlled flight. The swashplate is driven by three ...
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Labels of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's rotor blade, pitch link, servo, and swashplate.
Ingenuity's Upper Swashplate Assembly
PIXL, one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, analyzed the chemical makeup of an area of abraded rock dubbed “Ouzel Falls,” finding it rich in minerals containing phosphate, a...
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PIXL, one of the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, analyzed the chemical makeup of an area of abraded rock dubbed “Ouzel Falls,” finding it rich in minerals containing phosphate, a material found in the DNA and cell membranes of all known life.
PIXL Instrument on NASA's Perseverance Studies 'Ouzel Falls'
When NASA’s Mars 2020 rover lands on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021, it will seek signs of past microbial life and characterize the planet’s climate and geology.
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When NASA’s Mars 2020 rover lands on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021, it will seek signs of past microbial life and characterize the planet’s climate and geology.
NASA Mars 2020 Rover Sample Collection Animation
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet – and it’s inspiring future aerial exploration of the Red Planet, too.
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This video shows testing for Sample Recovery Helicopters, which could serve as a backup retrieval system for Mars Sample Return, a campaign that intends to retrieve samples taken by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover for study here on Earth.
Mars Report: Ingenuity Helicopter Inspires Future Flights on Mars (April 2023)

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Filled with rock, the sample tube will be one of 10 forming a depot of tubes that could be considered for a journey to Earth by the Mars Sample Return campaign.
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