Today, the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the "Persiverance" spacecraft, which represents the new generation of exploration vehicles to Mars from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in search of any clues about ancient life on the Red Planet.
The mission, which costs $ 2.4 billion, is expected to arrive in Mars in February. Perseverance, the size of the car and a six-wheeled robot, was launched on board the Atlas 5 missile manufactured by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The missile carrying the vehicle was launched in sunny and warm environments. The launch was carried out after the earthquake hit the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where the mission engineers are located.
Perseverance is slated to land on the base of a 250-meter-deep pit known as Gezero. This crater was a lake 3.5 billion years ago, and scientists believe it may carry evidence of a possible microbial life that had previously existed on Mars.
Perseverance is carrying a 1.8-kilometer small helicopter, called Ingenuity, which is to be tested on Mars for the first time.
After NASA and its first rover Sojourner landed on Mars in 1997, they sent Spirit and Opportunity. These missions revealed the geological nature of vast plains on the surface of Mars and reached evidence of ancient water formations, along with other discoveries.
NASA also succeeded in sending three probes, Pathfinder, Phoenix and Insight.
The United States plans to send astronauts to Mars in the 1930s as part of a program aimed at sending manned flights to the moon in preparation for sending humans to Mars.