The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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NASA’s Perseverance rover has been investigating rocks at the front of the delta in Mars’ Jezero Crater along the path indicated in this annotated image taken by the agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The red star indicates the location of the rover in September 2022.
The delta is a fan-shaped feature where, billions of years ago, a river flowed into a lake and deposited rocks and sediments. Scientists consider the delta one of the best places on Mars to search for potential signs of ancient microbial life.
The annotations show the names of some of the key features Perseverance visited, such as “Enchanted Lake” and “Hogwallow Flats.”
MRO took this overhead image with its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterise 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 (broken rock and dust).
Subsequent NASA missions in cooperation with ESA will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.