There were clapping and cheers at NASA’s Mars Exploration program today in Florida after successfully launching and landing their latest rover. The rover (Perseverance) touched down at around 3:55 p.m. ET, after executing a daring and dramatic landing that had been nicknamed the “seven minutes of terror.” Perseverance is now NASA’s fifth rover to land on Mars and is set to begin a two-year mission to roam its surface and search for signs of ancient microbial life. This anticipated mission can answer a lot of unanswered questions toward the ultimate goal of sending humans to Mars. This mission was made possible by the mission planners at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory located in Pasadena, California. It was said to have a 50% success rate due to all of the previous Mars landing attempts which have failed in the past. The rover got its name Perseverance because this planned touchdown was considered to be the most challenging mission. According to NASA, “NASA is expecting big rewards from the $3 billion Perseverance mission. The rover is not only the agency’s most sophisticated robotic explorer, but it’s also the first stage of a broader initiative to collect samples of Martian rocks and sediments and send them to Earth.” There is a very high possibility that the Perseverance mission will increase the chances of nearby future generations seeing humans on Mars. The rover will be spending the next few days analyzing and taking pictures of every yard on the planet’s surface. NASA will then be able to use this data for future research in regards to future human migration to Mars.