Rover Sets Stage For Mars Sample Return

Irene Klotz February 05, 2021
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.

Rover Sets Stage For Mars Sample Return is available to both Aviation Week & Space Technology and AWIN subscribers.

Subscribe now to read this content, plus receive critical analysis into emerging trends, technological advancements, operational best practices and continuous updates to policy, requirements and budgets.

Already a subscriber to AW&ST or AWIN? Log in with your existing email and password.

Subscribe    Log in    

Related Content

Perseverance rover concept
NASA Seeks To Answer Age-Old Question: Does Life Exist Beyond Earth?
Space Ops: Welcome To The Fleet
Time-lapse space launch at night
From The Editors: Expanded Defense And Space Content And Data
a tank pictured from behind rolling through a semi-frozen tree-lined body of water
Arctic Satcom Program Is A New Model For Allied Space Collaboration
MQ-20 Avenger
First Take, Aug. 12, 2024