This is the comprehensive story of NASA’s pioneering Mars 2020 mission, which at this moment continues to break ground on the surface of the Red Planet. The book takes readers through every stage of the Mars mission, describing its major goals and objectives, the cutting-edge technology and instrumentation onboard the Perseverance rover and other spacecraft components, and the members of the scientific team who steered the mission along the way. Mars 2020 is the first to actually take samples of the Red Planet and prepare them for subsequent return to Earth. The chapters therefore delve into how and why Jezero Crater was selected as the optimal landing and sample collecting site to meet the mission objectives. Featuring dozens of high-resolution images of the mission, this book gives readers a deeper understanding of the technology underlying Mars 2020 and why its work is so important for planetary science and space exploration.

From Habitability to Life on Mars explores the current state of knowledge and questions on the past habitability of Mars and the role that rapid environmental changes may have played in the ability of prebiotic chemistry to transition to life. It investigates the role that such changes may have played in the preservation of biosignatures in the geological record and what this means for exploration strategies. Throughout the book, the authors show how the investigation of terrestrial analogs to early Martian habitats under various climates and environmental extremes provide critical clues to understand where, what and how to search for biosignatures on Mars. The authors present an introduction to the newest developments and state-of-the-art remote and in situ detection strategies and technologies that are being currently developed to support the upcoming ExoMars and Mars 2020 missions. They show how the current orbital and ground exploration is guiding the selection for future landing sites. Finally, the book concludes by discussing the critical question of the implications and ethics of finding life on Mars. Edited by the lead on a NASA project that searches for habitability and life on Mars leading to the Mars 2020 mission Presents the evidence, questions and answers we have today (including a summary of the current state of knowledge in advance of the ESA ExoMars and NASA Mars 2020 missions) Includes contributions from authors directly involved in past, current and upcoming Mars missions Provides key information as to how Mars rovers, such as ExoMars and Mars 2020, will address the search for life on Mars with their instrumentation

NASA’s Mars 2020 mission successfully landed the Perseverance rover in Jezero crater on February 18, 2021.This book provides the definitive pre-landing documentation of the Mars 2020 mission, its scientific payload elements, and its exploration area. The chapters in this volume include detailed descriptions of: The Perseverance mission, and its relationship to a possible Mars Sample Return campaign; The geology of the mission’s exploration environment in Jezero crater; and The purpose, design and operation of all seven instruments aboard the rover (Mastcam-Z, SHERLOC, RIMFAX, Supercam, MOXIE, PIXL, and MEDA) as well as the engineering cameras and the Mars helicopter Ingenuity. NASA's ambitious Mars 2020 mission extends a long arc of Martian exploration by seeking evidence that life may once have existed on Mars, and by preparing a collection of samples for possible return to Earth by a future mission. Mars 2020 will also enable future exploration by characterizing modern weather conditions and by demonstrating new technologies. Previously published in Space Science Reviews in the Topical Collection "The Mars 2020 Mission"

With authoritative text and NASA photography and artworks, NASA Missions to Mars tells the story of NASA’s programs to explore the Red Planet—from the first tentative flybys to the present—and offers a glimpse into the future of Mars exploration.

Current state of play in astrobiology, including exoplanets and their atmospheres, habitable zones and the likelihood of evolution elsewhere.

This book describes the most complex machine ever sent to another planet: Curiosity. It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head. No one human understands how all of its systems and instruments work. This essential reference to the Curiosity mission explains the engineering behind every system on the rover, from its rocket-powered jetpack to its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to its fiendishly complex sample handling system. Its lavishly illustrated text explains how all the instruments work -- its cameras, spectrometers, sample-cooking oven, and weather station -- and describes the instruments' abilities and limitations. It tells you how the systems have functioned on Mars, and how scientists and engineers have worked around problems developed on a faraway planet: holey wheels and broken focus lasers. And it explains the grueling mission operations schedule that keeps the rover working day in and day out.