By Mary O’KEEFE

Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully launched into space on its way to Mars at 7:50 a.m. today at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This is the beginning of its estimated seven month travel to Mars, where it is scheduled to arrive on Feb. 18, 2021. It will land at Mars’ Jezero Crater and begin its search for ancient life and gather more information on the Red Planet’s ancient, and present, geology.

The mission has many new aspects including the installation of cameras that will capture the landing on Mars and the planned flight of a drone helicopter through the Martian sky that will gather samples of soil and rock that will be prepared for return to Earth in a future mission. And that is just some of the new technology that Perseverance will be carrying with it.