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An image showing the descent stage holding NASA’s Perseverance rover can be seen falling through the Martian atmosphere, its parachute trailing behind, in this image taken on Feb. 18, 2021, by the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is shown during a NASA Perseverance rover initial surface checkout briefing, Friday Feb. 19, 2021, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The ancient river delta, which is the target of the Perseverance mission, can be seen entering Jezero Crater from the left. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith