On Thursday, the American space agency, NASA, announced the name of its highly anticipated 2020 Mars Rover. NASA is calling the rover as Perseverance.
Perseverance will be the fifth rover from NASA landing on the Martian surface. Last time, the space agency successfully landed Curiosity on the surface of the red planet in 2012. NASA announced the name of the upcoming rover at an event organized in Lake Braddock Secondary School, Virginia.
Alex Mather, a 7th-grade student from the school, picked this name for the upcoming mission. Thomas Zurbuchen, an administrator from the space agency, congratulated the teen-ager. He further revealed that the name submitted by Alex depicts the spirit of the upcoming exploration.
Thomas revealed that the mission likely to face multiple challenges and discover a lot many unknown aspects of the planet.
Like all previous rovers, school children across the country submitted their picks for the upcoming rover. The contest began in August last year, and 4,700 judges shortlisted as many as 155 semifinalists. Later the number reduced to 9, and the space agency showcased them on its official website. Around 7,70,000 people across the globe chose their pick before NASA announced the winner.
Alex Mather is going to get an invitation to Cape Canaveral in Florida to witness the launch of the rover. His family will accompany him to the event. The space agency is planning to launch the high profile rover between the 17th of July to the 5th of August, 2019. Once the rover took off from its home planet, it will go through a long and challenging journey before landing on the Martian surface in February 2021.
Objectives of the Mission
The mission has a couple of objectives. Firstly, it will explore the red planet to gather signs of ancient civilizations. Secondly, it will collect the sample materials, which it will carry to the earth at the time of its return.
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