Rover Sets Stage For Mars Sample Return

Perseverance rover sample collection tubes
Sample collection tubes, each sheathed in a gold-colored cylinder to protect it from contamination, are inserted into the belly of the Perseverance rover as part of launch preparations at Kennedy Space Center.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Photos
NASA’s rover missions to Mars typically have been pedantic affairs, marked by slow traverses through unfamiliar terrain and serendipitous stops for extended scientific surveys. Not so with Perseverance, which is due to land in Jezero Crater on Feb. 18. Perseverance will be fighting the clock, with...
Irene Klotz

Irene Klotz is Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, based in Cape Canaveral. Before joining Aviation Week in 2017, Irene spent 25 years as a wire service reporter covering human and robotic spaceflight, commercial space, astronomy, science and technology for Reuters and United Press International.

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