The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover; A mission overview and an insider’s perspective
Channel: Northern Virginia Astronomy Club
Date: 03/07/2020

NASA’s next Mars Rover, Perseverance, is set to launch July 20th, 2020. The latest mission in NASA’s Mars Exploration Program has the direct aim to seek out traces of past life on Mars. Perseverance has the potential to answer some of our most fundamental questions regarding our existence in the universe and whether or not we are alone. Please join us on Sunday, June 28th, 2020 at 8:00pm for a virtual presentation titled: “The Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover; A mission overview and an insider’s perspective on what it is like to work with an extraordinary team on an incredibly complex project.” An overview of the Perseverance Rover’s mission objectives and lifecycle from inception to operation will be presented followed by a discussion of a summer engineering intern’s firsthand experience working with the Perseverance Rover’s team. The presentation will be hosted by Evan Kramer, a spring 2020 graduate from the University of Maryland’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, a NASA/JPL summer 2019 engineering intern for the Perseverance Rover’s Payload Office, and a former NOVAC member. He will be joined by special guest, Zachary Bailey, NASA/JPL’s instrument engineer for Perseverance’s SHERLOC instrument and the former instrument engineer for Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument. After the presentation, audience members will have the opportunity to ask questions of both Evan and Zach during a Q&A