Mars 2020: NASA’s Perseverance Rover Attached To Rocket Ahead Of Launch

The Mars Perseverance rover is now atop the rocket that will launch it off the Earth. It will be one of the major missions that will travel to Mars this summer.

On Tuesday, July 7, the engineers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida lifted the nose cone containing the Mars Perseverance rover and the rest of the Mars 2020 spacecraft 129 feet (39 meters) to the top of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster.

"I have seen my fair share of spacecraft being lifted onto rockets," project manager for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission, John McNamee said. "But this one is special because there are so many people who contributed to this moment. To each one of them I want to say, we got here together, and we'll make it to Mars the same way."

According to NASA, the spacecraft and the booster will remain together until about an hour after the launch, at which time they will finally separate and Perseverance will begin its seven-month journey to the Red Planet.

For now, the spacecraft and the booster will undergo rigorous testing, separately and as a unit, until two days before the launch when Atlas V will leave the facility and travel 1,800 feet by rail to the launch pad.

Originally, the mission was supposed to launch on July 17 but, it was moved several times due to various issues. Now, the launch period opening spans between July 30 and Aug. 15.

Regardless of which day the rover launches, it is set to land in the Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.

Apart from the NASA mission, two other major Mars missions are also set to launch this summer: the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Emirates Mars mission and China's Tianwen-1 mission.

The reason why these Mars missions are all targeting a launch for this summer is that it is when the planets in the solar system are aligned in a favorable way for a fuel-efficient trip to Mars, a window that opens up about every 26 months. If they miss the window, they will have to wait until 2022 for another chance.

So far, the three missions seem to be on track to fulfill their mission this year, the first launch being UAE's, followed by China then, finally, the U.S.

As for NASA, with the launch finally close at hand, the agency recently released an inspiring, 2-minute trailer that evokes the theme of the mission: human perseverance.

"Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it's going to make amazing discoveries," NASA said in the video description. "The time at hand is hard. We have already surmounted many obstacles on our way to Red Planet, but as humans we will not give up. We will always persevere."