Nasa Perseverance rover: Bringing Mars back to Earth - BBC News

Nasa's Perseverance rover will land on Mars this Thursday to begin an audacious effort to bring samples of Martian rock and soil back to Earth.

A new rover built by Nasa and named Perseverance will land on Mars in February 2021 using the "sky crane" method.

Perserverance's plutonium-based power supply could keep the rover trundling around Mars for 10 years or more.

The sample container will be met in orbit and caught by a European satellite.

We don't expect the satellite to arrive home until at least 2031, by which time the sample container will have been packaged in a heavily protected capsule, to be sent into Earth's atmosphere to land in North America.