Mars is hard. The global success rate of missions to the Red Planet is just 48%, yet NASA has a seemingly impossible 88% success rate when it comes to landing rovers or science platforms on our neighboring world. Only one NASA Mars landing attempt out of nine has failed.

The U.S. space agency will seek to continue that track record with the Perseverance rover.

The most notable element of the mission is that it is the first expedition to Mars in which a robotic emissary will be primarily tasked with seeking out evidence of past life.

The mission will also carry the first helicopter to fly on another world in our solar system. The copter, named Ingenuity, will largely test helicopter technology that will be needed for the upcoming mission to Titan while also scouting locations for Perseverance to focus its investigation..

Ingenuity is built to last at least 30 days and will be used early on in Perseverance’s mission.

After liftoff from Cape Canaveral, it will take the rover and helicopter seven months to reach Mars.

Perseverance will use the same “Seven Minutes of Terror" entry and landing profile that its cousin rover, Curiosity, used when it arrived on Mars in August 2012.

Those critical minutes will begin when Perseverance slams into the Martian atmosphere at 5.9 km per second. During this phase, temperatures outside the protective heat shield will climb to 2,100° C.

A hypersonic parachute will then deploy to slow the rover before Perseverance drops out of the bottom of its protective shell and free-falls toward the Martian surface for a few seconds.

A retrorocket landing pack mounted to the back of Perseverance will then fire to bring the rover to what is basically a stable hover 7.5 meters above Mars’ surface.

From here, a skycrane winch will lower Perseverance to the surface before the retrorocket pack flies off for a crash landing a safe distance away.

Perseverance will then call home, telling its controllers it survived landing and is ready for checkouts.

The mission is designed to last at least two Earth years but carries enough propellant to continue for over a decade if its science instruments continue to function properly.

Given proposed SpaceX timelines for human Mars exploration, Perseverance will be the first Mars rover launched with the possibility of having humans visit it on the Red Planet within its operational lifetime.

Atlas V: the workhorse of United Launch Alliance's rocket fleet.

The rocket is a mix of Russian and American technology, using the Russian RD-180 as the rocket's first stage engine, and is one of the most versatile rockets in the world with 20 possible configurations -- though only 10 have flown.

Stats

Height: 58.3 m (191 ft) with payload fairing, 52.4 m (172 ft) with Starliner.

Diameter: 3.81 m (12.5 ft)

Mass: 590,000 kg (1,300,000 lb)

Stages: 2 (3 with Star 48 upper stage)

Developed in the mid-to-late-1990s, it is the fifth and last major version of the veteran Atlas rocket, which began flying in 1957.

Lockheed Martin designed and built Atlas V as part of the U.S. government's 1994 initiative to create an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program for national security missions.

The two companies with EELV rockets -- Lockheed Martin with Atlas V and Boeing with Delta IV -- merged in 2006, creating an effective U.S. market monopoly with United Launch Alliance (ULA).

For years, the U.S. government paid ULA over $800 million annually -- not for rockets or launches but for ULA to maintain their facilities to be ready to launch EELV missions.

Therefore, pricing of the Atlas V has varied greatly over the years, with a basic Atlas V 401 (no boosters and a single-engine second stage) costing anywhere from the high-$90 millions to $163 million USD in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Sweeping price and cost-per-launch figure reductions have occurred since SpaceX began directly competing against ULA in the 2010s.

The Atlas V’s 541 variant costs a minimum of $145 million USD.

While not the cheapest rocket on the market, the Atlas V's safety and success are unparalleled -- with a 100% mission success rating.

Atlas V 541

This mission will use the Atlas V 541 variant - with a five-meter payload fairing (5), four side-mounted solid rocket boosters (4), and a single engine Centaur upper stage (1).

Of its flights to date, the Atlas V 541's most prominent flights have included NASA's Curiosity Rover on November 26th, 2011, The Mars Perseverence Rover on July 30th, 2020 as well as multiple NRO and GOES satellite launches.

Image: ULA

Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) is a significant launch site located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. Originally built in the 1960s, SLC-41 was designed to support the Titan III and Titan IV rocket programs. Throughout its history, the pad has been used for various missions, including the deployment of military and reconnaissance satellites. A notable launch from SLC-41 was the Cassini spacecraft mission, which began its journey to Saturn in 1997.

In the early 2000s, SLC-41 was repurposed to support the Atlas V rocket, operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA). This transition involved extensive upgrades to the pad’s infrastructure and the installation of new ground support equipment to accommodate the Atlas V. These modifications ensured that SLC-41 could meet the requirements of modern space missions.

Under ULA’s management, SLC-41 has hosted a range of important launches, including the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which successfully landed the Curiosity rover on Mars in August 2012, and the launch of GPS III satellites, enhancing global positioning capabilities. The pad has also supported Boeing's CST-100 Starliner capsule, which is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The Starliner capsule, designed to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station, has been launched from SLC-41 to support crewed missions.

Looking to the future, SLC-41 is set to support ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. The Vulcan Centaur is intended to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, marking a new era in ULA’s launch capabilities with enhanced performance and cost-efficiency. The pad’s infrastructure will be further updated to accommodate this next-generation rocket.

Jezero crater is a 49 km wide impact point on Mars that once held an ancient lake.

Its name, Jezero, is a Slavic language word for "lake."

The crater was selected as Perseverance's landing site in November 2018.