Nasa Mars rover: Perseverance robot ready to fly

The weather in Florida is set fair for the launch of the American space agency's (Nasa) big new Mars rover. The one-tonne Perseverance robot is heading to the Red Planet to search for life and to begin the process of returning rocks to Earth for analysis. An Atlas rocket will send the vehicle on its way from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It'll be the third mission despatched to Mars this month, after launches by the UAE and China. Lift-off is timed for the start of a two-hour window that opens at 07:50 local time (12:50 BST; 11:50 GMT). The cruise to Mars takes seven months.