미 화성탐사 로버 '퍼서비어런스' 발사…생명체 흔적 찾아라
After years of preparation, NASA has successfully launched a mission to Mars.
The spacecraft-carrying rover named 'Perseverance' was launched on Thursday from the United States.
Lee Seung-jae has more.
NASA's next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off Thursday from Florida's Cape Canaveral,... atop an Atlas 5 rocket.
Its mission: searching for traces of past life on the Red Planet.
NASA's ninth journey to the Martian surface involves a next-generation robotic rover,... a car-sized six-wheeled scientific vehicle.
After touching down inside the 45 kilometer wide and 250 meter deep Jezero Crater in February 2021,... Perseverance will hunt for signs of life,... collecting samples for its future return to Earth.
The Jezero Crater,... which was a lake 3-point-5 billion years ago,... is believed by scientists to bear evidence of potential past microbial life on Mars.
Scientists have long debated whether Mars,... which was once a much more hospitable place than it is now,... ever harbored life.
Scientists believe Mars had lots of it on its surface billions of years ago,... before the Red Planet became a harsh and desolate outpost,... as we know it to be now.
As well as its search for past life,... a 1-point-8 kilogram autonomous helicopter is also aboard Perseverance,... in order to conduct powered flights for the first time on the planet.
Scientists say this will help helicopters someday serve as scouts on Mars,... and 'other distance worlds'... helping mission controllers direct rovers to areas of scientific interest.
As for when scientists can get their hands on some Mars samples,... it'll be a long wait,... as NASA believes the roughly 20 rock and soil samples will only be brought to Earth by 2031 at the earliest.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News.
