On February 18, NASA’s Perseverance will complete its journey and touchdown on Mars. The landing will be a challenge.
If all goes well, the Perseverance will land in Jezero crater that scientists believe was once filled with water.
Perseverance is the most sophisticated rover ever sent to Mars. Perseverance will look for ancient signs of life. Samples from Mars’s Jezero crater, which had once been an ancient Martian lake, will be placed in 43 sample tubes.
Once placed in uncontaminated tubes, the samples will begin a ten year journey back to earth. These samples will allow scientists to search for microbial life and answer many other questions about the red planet.
For more information, see the Landing Toolkit: Landing Toolkit: Perseverance Rover – NASA Mars
If you want to read more about Mars and space exploration, look for these books.
Davenport, Christian. The Space Barons (Adult Collection)
Hirsch, Rebecca. Mysteries of Mars. (Juvenile collection)
Kaku, Michio. The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars (Adult Collection)
Kenney, Karen. Cutting-edge Journey to Mars. (Juvenile collection)
Odenwald, Sten F. Space Exploration: A History in 100 Objects. (Adult collection)
Tyson, Neil de Grasse. StarTalk with Neil de Grasse Tyson. (Young Adult Collection)