Abigail Allwood (second from left), principal investigator of the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, is seen right here inspecting rocks at a web site in Greenland. Allwood is a scientist primarily based at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. (2021) — NASA
A key goal for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, together with the seek for indicators of historical microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and previous local weather, pave the way in which for human exploration of the Purple Planet, and be the primary mission to gather and cache Martian rock and regolith (damaged rock and dirt).
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European House Company), would ship spacecraft to Mars to gather these sealed samples from the floor and return them to Earth for in-depth evaluation.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is a part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which incorporates Artemis missions to the Moon that may assist put together for human exploration of the Purple Planet.
Date Created:2021-06-14 NASA ID: PIA24668 Bigger picture
Astrobiology
