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ATLAS V TO LAUNCH PERSEVERANCE

• Rocket: Atlas V 541

• Mission: NASA's Mars 2020 with the Perseverance Rover

• Launch Date: Thurs., July 30, at 7:50 a.m. ET, with a two-hour window

• Launch Location: Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

 

Mission Information: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket will launch NASA's Perseverance rover to Mars. The spacecraft will explore the Jezero Crater to study the planet's habitability, seek signs of past microbial life, collect and store samples of selected rock and soil and prepare for future human missions.

The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter, a technology demonstration to prove that powered flight can be achieved at Mars.

Launch Notes: The Perseverance launch will mark the 85th Atlas V mission since the inaugural launch in 2002 and the 7th in the 541 configuration.

Launch Updates: To keep up to speed with updates to the launch countdown, dial the ULA launch hotline at 1-877-852-4321 or join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch and instagram.com/ulalaunch; hashtags #AtlasV #CountdownToMars

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Atlas V

ULA’s Atlas V rocket is a workhorse for the U.S. military, intelligence community and scientific researchers. Developed as a modular vehicle, each Atlas V is tailored to the needs of its passenger by adding as many as five side-mounted solid rocket boosters for increased lift performance and a variety of available payload fairings in various diameters and lengths to protect satellites during atmospheric ascent. The high-energy Centaur upper stage, which has been used to send spacecraft to every planet in our solar system, is incorporated into Atlas V to deliver the payloads to their intended destinations.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket will launch NASA's Perseverance rover to Mars. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

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Download the Mission Overview

 

Space Launch Complex 41

Space Launch Complex 41, the East Coast home of the Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, employs a “clean pad” concept of operations to ready launch vehicles and payloads for ascent into space. The rocket elements are assembled atop a Mobile Launch Platform inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) located adjacent to the launch pad. The platform and fully stacked Atlas V then travels by rail approximately 1,800 feet northward from the VIF to the pad for the final countdown, fueling and liftoff.

Complex 41 was constructed by the U.S. Air Force in the 1960s for the Titan rocket program. The site was rejuvenated in support of the Atlas V starting in the late 1990s.

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Atlas V Mars 2020
Mars 2020 Coloring Sheet