NASA launches Mars rover to look for signs of ancient life

An Atlas V rockets lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center with NASA's Perseverance rover on its way to Mars, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built, a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills and lasers is part part of an ambitious, long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send a Mars rover to the Red Planet to search for signs of life, explore the planet's geology and much more. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send a Mars rover to the Red Planet to search for signs of life, explore the planet's geology and much more. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

An Atlas V rockets lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center with NASA's Perseverance rover on its way to Mars, Thursday, July 30, 2020, at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The biggest, most sophisticated Mars rover ever built, a car-size vehicle bristling with cameras, microphones, drills and lasers is part part of an ambitious, long-range project to bring the first Martian rock samples back to Earth to be analyzed for evidence of ancient life. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that will launch to Mars arrives at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rocket scheduled to launch on Thursday will land on Mars in February 2021 and the Mars 2020 rover, named Perseverance, will study Martian geology. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send a Mars rover to the Red Planet to search for signs of life, explore the planet's geology and much more. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A replica of the Mars rover Perseverance is displayed outside the press site before a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center Wednesday, July 29, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launch scheduled for tomorrow will transport the rover to Mars. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Alexander Mather, of Burke, Va. stands next to a model of the Mars 2020 rover he named in a contest during a news conference at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, July 28, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Mather, submitted the winning entry in NASA's "Name the Rover" essay contest, making the case to name the Mars 2020 rover "Perseverance." (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday, July 30, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will send a Mars rover to the Red Planet to search for signs of life, explore the planet's geology and much more. (AP Photo/John Raoux)