Reservations must be made online at Save your spot today! Admission to this live viewing is available at no charge to members, and non-member visitors are able to participate with paid admission to the McWane Science Center’s Adventure Halls. Space is limited, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing. Therefore, pre-registration for the event is advised.
On Feb. 18, 2021, NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover makes its final descent to the Red Planet, and McWane Science Center is excited to put you in the center of all the action. Landing on Mars is challenging. Only about 40 percent of the missions ever sent to Mars – by any space agency – have been successful. Perseverance is only the fifth rover to attempt landing on Mars. The rover’s new home is Jezero Crater, a large impact crater about 28 miles wide just north of the Martian equator. The main question Perseverance is trying to answer during this mission is: “Was there ever ancient life on Mars?” To answer that question, the rover will collect and store the most compelling rock and soil samples for return to Earth by a future mission.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission carries more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history, with 19 cameras on the rover itself and four on other parts of the spacecraft involved in entry, descent, and landing. As with previous Mars missions, the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission plans to make raw and processed images available on the mission’s website. If all goes well, the public will be able to experience in high-definition what it’s like to land on Mars – and hear the sounds of landing for the first time with an off-the-shelf microphone affixed to the side of the rover. Another microphone on SuperCam will help scientists understand the property of rocks the instrument is examining and can also listen to the wind.
Do not miss this history-making event. McWane Science Center will also present a series of space science programs and Rover-themed engineering design challenges throughout the day.