Mission Timeline

An illustration of the planet Mars, highlighting NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover mission.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its PIXL instrument to analyze the “Bellegarde” abrasion target, revealing salt minerals. 

This artist's concept depicts NASA's Mars 2020 rover exploring Mars. 

This illustration shows NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover on the surface of the Red Planet. 

Ingenuity’s third flight achieved a longer flight time and more sideways movement than previously attempted.

Members of the NASA Mars Helicopter team attach a thermal film to the exterior of the flight model of the Mars Helicopter. 

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover used its Mastcam-Z camera to shoot video of Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, eclipsing the Sun. It’s the most zoomed-in, highest-frame-rate observation of a Phobos sol...

Bob Balaram and Teddy Tzanetos share stories of how the Mars helicopter came to be, and transport us on Ingenuity’s flights through dusty Martian skies.

This map shows the approximate flight path of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its ninth flight, on July 5.

The imagery for this animated gif was taken on March 5, 2021, by a Navigation Camera on NASA’s Perseverance rover during its first drive on Mars.

Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of late June 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collec...

This is a high-resolution still image, part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars. A camera aboard the descent stage captured this shot.

Tour the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and see the Mars 2020 mission under construction. Project System Engineer Jennifer Trosper explains the hardware being buil...

Made with data recorded by NASA’s Perseverance during a July 15 autonomous drive, this animation shows how the rover used AutoNav to maneuver around the 14-inch (35-centimeter) rock at center-left....

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history when it achieved the first powered, controlled flight on another planet – and it’s inspiring future aerial exploration of the Red Planet, too.

The Range Trigger technique shrinks the Mars 2020 rovers landing ellipse significantly, landing the rover closer to the target area of greatest scientific interest. This example shows Mars 2020's e...

Antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network provide two-way communications with spacecraft exploring the planets.

In this project, you'll do an experiment to explore the science behind a mystery that puzzled scientists for years. Read on to play the part of a NASA scientist and learn about what's creating brig...

Meet two of the Martian samples that have been collected and are awaiting return to Earth as part of the Mars Sample Return campaign. As of late June 2023, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover has collec...

This map of Mars shows the landing site for NASA’s Perseverance rover in relation to those of previous successful Mars missions. 

Robots are paving the way for future human missions to Mars.

High Bay 1 looks much as it does today in this photo of NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers being tested on Feb. 10, 2003. 

Members of the Perseverance rover Science Team pose on June 7, 2022, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Flori...

The Mars 2020 mission is facing the most challenging landing yet on the Red Planet. It will touch down on Feb. 18, 2021, in Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) expanse full of steep c...