NASA Lands Perseverance Rover Safely on Mars

Now the search for life on Mars begins in earnest. After a seven-month, 292-million-mile journey, NASA's fastest and best-equipped rover ever--Perseverance--touched down safely Thursday on the red planet, NASA officials said. The $2.7 billion rover landed in an ancient lake bed called Jezero Crater at about 3:55 p.m. EST on Thursday, the jubilant officials said. The two-year Perseverance mission is the latest and most ambitious effort by NASA to find evidence of past life on Mars. The 1-ton, SUV-size rover will spend the next two years prospecting for evidence of ancient microbes.