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Featured Story
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Inside NASA's Elaborate Effort to Bring Rocks From Mars to Earth
The decade-long mission requires dozens of glass tubes, two rovers and three more rocket launches, including the first from another planet
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In February 2021, NASA landed the cutting-edge Perseverance rover on the Red Planet. The loaded vehicle includes tools for looking for signs of life, a battery-sized device built to turn carbon dioxide into oxygen and a solar-powered helicopter designed to fly in the thin Martian atmosphere. Here, Smithsonian Magazine provides news about the rover, past explorations of the planet and future missions.
A selfie taken in April 2021 by the WATSON Camera of NASA's Perseverance Rover
NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
The decade-long mission requires dozens of glass tubes, two rovers and three more rocket launches, including the first from another planet
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