Perseverance-LS-Chosen

Jezero Crater, Mars 2020's Landing Site: This image is of Jezero Crater on Mars, the landing site for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. It was taken by instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which regularly takes images of potential landing sites for future missions. Download image ›

NASA chose Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta.
Jezero crater tells a story of the on-again, off-again nature of the wet past of Mars. More than 3.5 billion years ago, river channels spilled over the crater wall and created a lake. Scientists see evidence that water carried clay minerals from the surrounding area into the crater lake. Conceivably, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments.

The process of landing site selection involved a combination of mission team members and scientists from around the world, who carefully examined more than 60 candidate locations on the Red Planet. After the exhaustive five-year study of potential sites, each with its own unique characteristics and appeal, Jezero rose to the top.

The crater is 28 miles (45 kilometers) wide, and is located on the western edge of a flat plain called Isidis Planitia, which lies just north of the Martian equator. Scientists will study how the region formed and evolved, seek signs of past life, and collect samples of Mars rock and soil that might preserve these signs.

Jezero Crater
Location: North of the Martian equator, in the Isidis Planitia region (18.4 degrees north / 77.5 degrees east)
Diameter: 28 miles (45 kilometers)

JPL - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An animated flyover of the Martian surface explains why Mars’ Jezero Crater, a 28-mile-wide ancient lake-delta system, is the best place for the Mars 2020 rover to find and collect promising samples for a possible future return to Earth. For more about the mission, please visit https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020

The launch period is approximately three weeks, from July 30 to August 15. The duration of the daily launch window varies from day to day. The launch windows will last approximately two hours, with a unique launch opportunity every five minutes.

The Mars 2020 spacecraft with its Perseverance Rover will launch on an Atlas V-541 rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The Atlas V is one of the largest rockets available for interplanetary flight. This is the same type of rocket that launched the InSight and Curiosity to Mars. The launch vehicle is provided by United Launch Alliance, Centennial Colorado.