Rover Lands on Mars

by Defne

After years of preparing, and seven months of waiting, it finally happened: NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on mars. Not only that, but safely. And so NASA is celebrating, and so should you!

The rover was set up to collect rock samples from an ancient dried up lake. Yup, mars did have a lake! And this dried up lake just might be carrying evidence of life on mars, evidence that we might not be alone. And who knows, maybe using that DNA they will be able to recreate martian life - but before I turn this article into a science fiction novel I’d better tell you more facts about the rover.

Perseverance has 23 total cameras. (Which is a lot.) It’s programmed to make its own decisions. (Which is more complicated than you’d think.) It’s about the size of a regular car, and 2,260 pounds. (Which I bet is heavier than your older brother plus a giraffe sitting on top of him and then your dad sitting on top of the giraffe, which makes me feel bad for your older brother if you have one because he would be very uncomfortable with all those animals sitting on top of him.)

The rover was named after one of our code of character traits. Yes, the character trait is perseverance, and we will probably learn some more about the trait in our school crew meetings. It means: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition. And as you probably guessed, I did look that definition up in the dictionary. But that’s what they’re for! Anyway, perseverance basically means bravery or endurance.

Another one of NASA’s Mars toys with another name (and definition) is Ingenuity. Ingenuity means creativity, discovery, brilliance. They’re going to try what no one’s tried before: to send a “helicopter” to another planet - and to see if it can fly.

You could say the rover’s so far been successful. It’s launched, it’s landed, and it’s rollin’ round the red planet. But perseverance has had hard times, too. The pandemic happened right when the scientists were as busy as bees in a hive. And recently the rover’s been making these loud clanking noises, which it’s not supposed to be doing.

I think NASA might’ve chosen for the rover to be called Perseverance because that’s what NASA did: persevere, and look at where it’s brought them. They succeeded in the launch. They succeeded in the touchdown. Of course, they’ve made mistakes too. But if you make mistakes, you need to persevere. And that’s the one route to success. So far, things are looking hopeful for NASA. So let’s celebrate that, along with all the hard work NASA’s done. Three cheers for NASA! Hooray!