Finally some good news to unite humanity! This morning the latest and greatest Mars rover blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida and is making its long-ish journey to the red planet. The JPL-made 'Perseverance' is as big as an SUV and will land on Mars on February 18th at Jerezo Crater. The goal of the rover is to examine the planet and find answers to a very big question: "Was there ever life on Mars?"
In addition to scooping up soil samples, this new rover has a drone that will detach and fly around, making it the first helicopter ever flown on another planet. How awesome is that?!
We spoke with JPL engineer Jose Soto who was at the launch in Cape Canaveral this morning. Soto was the Lead Hardware Engineer for the RCE (Rover Compute Element) box and also happens to be Producer Nick's uncle.
He said the launch was absolutely beautiful to see and can't wait to move on to the next project. In addition to today's launch, this edition of #StrangeScience features a study on how quarantine might be changing your personality, and a new trend on TikTok where people bring up what they did in their former lives.It's called Past Life Regression.
We promise that's the last time we ever mention a TikTok trend. It's all right here in #StrangeScience!
Photo Credit: Getty Images