As some of us know, a few weeks ago, the Mars Perseverance Rover successfully landed on Mars after months of flying through space.

Perseverance was launched from a NASA launch site back in July of 2020. It ended up flying from Earth to Mars in around 7 months. Perseverance was sent to Mars for a few different purposes. The main purpose was to explore the different areas of the planet and look for ancient life. It went to Mars with a helicopter attached to it which can detach and fly around giving us a better perspective of the terrain.

Another job for Perseverance was to collect samples from the ground. There is a mini drill which can take samples of dirt and rock and put them in test tubes and vials to bring home to Earth.  Speaking of getting home, you will be a whole different person by the time that this rover returns here on Earth. The scientists at Nasa estimate that Perseverance won’t return home until at least a decade from now in 2031.

The funny thing is that this rover took 2.4 billion dollars to build and around 300 million to land on Mars’s surface, and by the time this rover returns, we will probably have another rover leaving that is twice as intelligent and better at every part of the mission.

This was a really interesting topic to write about and it’s fun to think about how the world will change in the 10 years that Perseverance will be on Mars about 143 million miles away.