“A planet near you” is relative, of course, as 300 million miles is still quite a journey. NASA’s Perseverance rover launched in July, and is scheduled to land in the Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18. The landing will be covered live, and to drum up enthusiasm, NASA released a “trailer” for the landing, with all the drama you might expect for a blockbuster event. Perseverance’s mission is to:

Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.

They named the mission Mars 2020, which was probably unavoidable but still seems unfortunate. Catch up on what the mission is all about at NASA.

[via Mashable]

Tags: mars, Mars rover, Perserverance