KEY POINTS

  • The Perseverance Rover is expected to land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021
  • The robot will be studying the planet's surface using RIMFAX
  • Jezero crater is believed to have been home to a lake in the past and holds evidence of ancient life

NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover is on its way to Mars to search for signs of past life, and will be landing on the planet on Feb. 18, 2021.

Perseverance will be heading to the red planet to study its surface with the Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment, also known as RIMFAX, the first ground-penetrating radar to be setting foot on the surface of Mars. Compared to space-borne radars which only orbit the planet, RIMFAX will be able to provide scientists much higher-resolution data -- enabling scientists to focus on specific areas in more detail, thanks to the instrument's close proximity to the surface.

According to NASA, the Mars 2020 Rover is expected to land on Jezero Crater, the site where a lake existed 3.5 billion years ago. RIMFAX will be able to give a highly detailed view of the subsurface down to at least 30 feet -- about half as long as a bowling lane. With this, the instrument is expected to reveal hidden layers of the crater's geology and provide clues to past environments on the planet, more specifically those that may have provided the necessary conditions for life.

"We take an image of the subsurface directly beneath the rover," said Svein-Erik Hamran, the instrument's principal investigator. "We can do a 3D model of the subsurface – of the different layers – and determine the geological structures underneath."

On February 18 2021, Perserverance should land in the Jezero Crater, home to an ancient river that fanned out into a lake between three and four billion years ago, depositing mud, sand and sediment
On February 18 2021, Perserverance should land in the Jezero Crater, home to an ancient river that fanned out into a lake between three and four billion years ago, depositing mud, sand and sediment NASA / Handout

Although the Red planet looks like a vast desert today, scientists suspect that microbes lived in Jezero and evidence of life are still preserved in the 45-kilometer-wide crater, making it one of the best places to search for signs of ancient life, says NASA in another article. The data from RIMFAX will help pinpoint areas for deeper study by other instruments also aboard the Perseverance rover. Perseverance will also be collecting samples from the planet's surface using a drill, to be sent back to Earth in sealed tubes.

Jezero crater is believed to have formed when a large object collided with Mars. River channels then spilled in the crater, creating a lake that was, for a time, home to a fan-shaped river delta. With RIMFAX's help, scientists expect to find out the origin of the delta by creating a two-dimensional image of the crater floor and combining it with images procured by the rover.

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