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  The Mars 2020 Trevor Mahlmann
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NASA is about ready to send its largest and most capable rover to Mars. With a mass of 1.025 metric tons, the Perseverance rover is about 14 percent more bulky than its predecessor, Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012.

Because the two rovers are similar in size and appearance, it would be easy to dismiss Perseverance as a copy of Curiosity. But that would be doing a disservice to the newer rover, which is carrying some unique experiments and hardware to Mars. With these, NASA will dare to try new things on another planet and jumpstart the search for ancient life.

In short, this is an exciting mission.