We're going to Mars

Learn all about NASA's Mars rover, Perseverance, which just launched into space for a six-month journey to the Red Planet. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 07.30.20 Earlier this morning, NASA launched its new Mars rover, Perseverance, on a six-month journey to the Red Planet. The car-sized rover blasted into space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. You can relive the journey here. It's the third and final Mars mission to depart Earth this summer; earlier in July, China and the United Arab Emirates launched their first Martian explorers. Perseverance is essentially an alien-hunting self-driving car. Its primary mission is to find possible signs of ancient life hidden in the Martian soil and bottle them up so they can be returned to Earth by another robotic mission later this decade. This is NASA's fifth Mars rover, but it represents a number of firsts for the agency. Perseverance will be the first rover to take pictures with a zoomable camera; it carries a super-lightweight helicopter destined to become the first extraterrestrial aircraft; it's the first rover powered by American plutonium; it's carrying the first space suit samples for tests on another planet; and it will be the first rover to collect samples of Mars dirt to be returned. While we ponder the enormity of this little rover's mission, it's inevitable to wonder when our turn will come. At WIRED, we've spent a lot of time puzzling over that journey, from how we'd feed ourselves and how our bodies might change to whether we're built for such trips in the first place. That salt-covered Red Planet has long fascinated our species—soon, we'll get an even closer look. 🚀   NASA Just Launched Its New Perseverance Rover to Mars BY DANIEL OBERHAUS The new rover is its biggest, most autonomous yet and may lead us to the first signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.   Will We Recognize Life on Mars When We See It? BY DANIEL OBERHAUS If NASA's Perseverance rover finds life on the Red Planet, there's a good chance our first extraterrestrial encounter will be a little ambiguous.   How NASA Built a Self-Driving Car for Its Next Mars Mission BY DANIEL OBERHAUS It's hard enough to get an autonomous vehicle to work on Earth. It's even harder on another planet.   NASA's Mars Rover Will Be Powered by US-Made Plutonium BY DANIEL OBERHAUS In 2015, Oak Ridge National Laboratory produced the first plutonium fuel in the US in nearly 30 years. Now it's headed to another planet.   China's First Mars Rover Launch Could Make History BY DANIEL OBERHAUS If the mission succeeds, China will become only the second country ever to deploy a rover on the surface of the Red Planet.   Algae Caviar, Anyone? What We'll Eat on the Journey to Mars BY NICOLA TWILLEY Humans are headed for the cosmos, and we're taking our appetites with us. What will fill the void when we leave Earth behind?   The Genetics (and Ethics) of Making Humans Fit for Mars BY JASON PONTIN We could make people less stinky, more resistant to radiation, even less dependent on food and oxygen. But would the new creature be human?   The Strange, Deadly Effects Mars Would Have on Your Body BY KEVIN FONG The ability of the human body to adapt to the extremes of terrestrial environments was largely irrelevant for Earth orbit and the Moon. Mars, however, presents a challenge of a different scale and character.   Stunning Mars Photos Show a Salty Landscape BY SHANNON STIRONE The Mars Curiosity Rover finds evidence of the red planet's wet past.     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions