The Atlas-V rocket on Thursday, July 30, launched from the American spaceport at Cape Canaveral.

As reported on the website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the main goal of the mission will be to deliver a new Mars rover to Mars Perseverance. The three-meter robot, weighing more than one ton, is expected to reach the planet's surface in February 2021..

Perseverance, according to dpa agency, is a kind of improved version of the Curiosity rover, which has been operating on the Red Planet since 2012.. Seven instruments for research, two microphones, 23 cameras, a laser and even one small helicopter will be used to search for traces of microbial activity, as well as study the climate and geology of the planet, as well as take samples of rocks and Martian dust..

German scientists are also participating in the project: Perseverance has thermal sensors manufactured at the Institute of Photonic Technologies named after. Leibniz in Jena. They can change the temperature of surfaces without contact.

Scientists expect that the mission, whose total cost today is about $ 2.5 billion, will provide, among other things, new information about the origin of the Universe, and will also become a preparatory stage for the landing of people on Mars.. Reported by Deutsche Welle.