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NASA set for upcoming Mars mission to seek signs of ancient life on the red planet

An artist rendering imagines NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on the Red Planet. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

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Just three weeks ahead of liftoff, NASA and launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced that NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, and its Martian helicopter sidekick, Ingenuity, were mated with the Atlas V 541 rocket that will kick off the seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The precious cargo encapsulated inside of a protective payload fairing was carefully hoisted by crane operators to rest atop the Atlas V rocket. The payload joins the Atlas V common core booster, four solid rocket boosters, and the Centaur upper stage to achieve the stack’s final flight configuration height of 197 feet (60 meters).

Inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is being prepared for encapsulation in the United Launch Alliance Atlas V payload fairing on June 18, 2020. (Image Credit:  NASA/Christian Mangano)

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover secured inside is positioned on top of the ULA Atlas V rocket inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020. (Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

The final stacking procedure was completed inside of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41). The rocket and payload will remain inside the protective structure and complete final check out tests until it is time quite literally roll to the launchpad. Crane operators first set down the payload for a soft touch to begin final full physical and electrical connection. The spacecraft and rocket will undergo integrated electrical testing as well as a battery of other tests as separate spacecraft and simultaneously as one complete unit.

On Friday (July 10), ULA president and chief executive officer, Tory Bruno, stated on Twitter that the Integrated Systems Test (IST) had been completed successfully. According to a previous mission statement posted to the ULA blog site, the IST is a typical pre-launch run down of the various connected systems between the spacecraft and launch vehicle to “verify proper functionality of launch vehicle systems, (and) conduct a simulated countdown and run through the launch sequence.”

The launch vehicle and integrated payload will remain inside the VIF undergoing mission-specific activities and final system checkouts over the next two weeks. Once all pre-flight activities have been successfully completed, approximately two days ahead of the scheduled launch attempt, the entire stack located on top of the Mobile Launch Platform will make the 1,800ft (550 meters) trip to the SLC-41 launchpad which will take about forty-minutes on a modified railway.

Inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover inside is secured on top of the ULA Atlas V rocket on July 7, 2020. (Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)

Known as an astrobiology mission and outfitted with seven instruments, the Perseverance rover will conduct new science, sample collection, and test new technology in search of ancient microbial life on the distant planet. The rover will spend the length of one Martian year – two Earth years – exploring the region around its landing site. It will collect and cache samples of the Martian surface to possibly be collected and returned to Earth by future joint missions currently under consideration by NASA and the European Space Agency.

Members of NASA’s Mars Helicopter team attach a thermal film enclosure to the fuselage of the flight model (the actual vehicle going to the Red Planet). The image was taken on Feb. 1, 2019, inside the Space Simulator, a 25-foot-wide (7.62-meter-wide) vacuum chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. (Image Credit: NASA/JPL)

The first interplanetary helicopter, Ingenuity, is a small 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) autonomous solar-powered aircraft that will conduct a series of experimental test flights. Ingenuity is traveling to Mars solely for a demonstrative mission and is not connected to the Perseverance rover by any means other than hitching a ride to the Red Planet. The new technology will demonstrate an ability to create lift in the thin atmosphere and lower gravity environment of Mars to help inform future aerial exploration and science delivery missions.

Currently, NASA and ULA are targeting the launch of the interplanetary mission on July 30th at 7:50 am EDT/4:50 PDT. Should they be necessary, multiple backup launch opportunities are available until the close of the interplanetary launch window on August 15th. Regardless of the launch date, after a seven-month-long, 290 million mile (467 million kilometers) journey – the rover and helicopter will arrive at Mars’s Jezero Crater, the home to an ancient Martian river delta, for a landing attempt on February 18, 2021. The landing date is perhaps even more crucial than the launch date as mission planners must take into account landing site lighting and temperature conditions and the locations of Mars-orbiting satellites required to relay crucial mission-specific information back to Earth.

Should the launch have to abort, and the 2020 window is missed completely, the robots will have to wait until 2022 when Earth’s orbit lines up just right with that of Mars, and the next interplanetary launch window opens up.

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Elon Musk reveals date of Tesla Robotaxi’s first rides open to public

Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to roll out new details regarding the Robotaxi launch that is expected to happen soon.

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1 hour ago

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June 10, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Robotaxi is set to launch in the coming days, but the first rides will be confined to those who receive invitations that the company sends out. However, CEO Elon Musk revealed the date that Tesla is aiming for when anyone in the general public will be able to call for a Robotaxi.

There has been quite a bit of information today about what appears to be an imminent launch of the Robotaxi platform. The first video of a Robotaxi was captured on a public road in Austin today, just one day after Tesla was added to the City of Austin’s list of licensed autonomous vehicle operators.

First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX

In the coming days, it is expected that Tesla will launch the Robotaxi platform in Austin to a select few. For now, Tesla is taking this ultra-conservative approach as it pertains to the rollout, citing safety precautions. It will be the first time Tesla has done this in public and offered it to people outside of the company.

It did launch a small, limited version of it to employees last month in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, but there was someone in the driver’s seat. Today’s video only had an occupant in the passenger seat.

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People are eager to know: when will they be able to fetch a driverless Tesla Model Y Robotaxi in Austin for themselves? Musk finally answered the long-awaited question with a tentative date of June 22:

Musk cited that Tesla’s utmost priority is still safety and not necessarily the speed of rollout. The current plan seems to be to deploy it in a controlled and slow fashion until confidence is at an extremely high level. Musk seems to believe the rollout will go smoothly, as the date comes less than two weeks after the initial launch.

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Anyone who has experienced Full Self-Driving for themselves knows what the cars are capable of. However, Tesla, at this point in time, still requires drivers to pay attention and remain ready to take over the wheel in case of an emergency. This will be a major step in the right direction for Tesla as it prepares to launch Robotaxi in Austin and slowly expand to surrounding areas.

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Elon Musk says Tesla Robotaxi launch will force companies to license Full Self-Driving

“The automakers keep being told that this isn’t real or that just buying some hardware from Nvidia will solve it. As Tesla robotaxis become widespread and their other solutions don’t work, they will naturally turn to us.”

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June 10, 2025

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk says the automaker’s Robotaxi platform launch later this month will essentially force other companies to license Full Self-Driving to achieve their own goals of achieving autonomy.

Musk’s statement comes as a video captured today showed the first Tesla Robotaxi test mules on public streets in Austin, Texas, just one day after the City officially listed the company as an autonomous vehicle operator.

A prediction by investing YouTube and Tesla community member Dave Lee stated that “at least one automaker by end of year” will license Full Self-Driving from the Musk-led company, as it will give rivals the confidence to use the software to run their own self-driving operations.

Lee detailed his theory by stating that the company that chooses to commit to FSD licensing will not be able to integrate the hardware and sell those units immediately. Instead, it will take two years or so to solve the engineering and design applications.

First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX

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Musk revealed his true thoughts on other automakers’ attempts at vehicle autonomy, and said many are being told that Robotaxi is not real or that they can solve their problems with hardware orders to Nvidia.

He went on to say that companies will be forced to turn to Tesla at some point or another, because Robotaxi will be widespread and their solutions to figuring out an effective deployment will prove to be failures:

“The automakers keep being told that this isn’t real or that just buying some hardware from Nvidia will solve it. As Tesla robotaxis become widespread and their other solutions don’t work, they will naturally turn to us.”

Musk has not been shy to respond to speculation regarding the video of the Robotaxi, which was shared on X earlier today. This is perhaps one of the more fiery things he revealed. He seems ultra-confident in what Tesla will prove and achieve in the near future with the launch of the Robotaxi platform.

Many believe it will be rolled out this month. Bloomberg reported recently that Tesla was internally aiming for June 12. The company has not directly responded to these rumors.

Tesla has discussed on several occasions that it is in talks with an automaker about licensing Full Self-Driving, but it has never revealed who. The company first revealed discussions with another automaker in early 2024 when Elon Musk said:

“We’re in conversations with one major automaker regarding licensing FSD. It really just becomes a case of having them use the same cameras and inference computer and licensing our software. Once it becomes obvious that if you don’t have this (FSD) in a car, nobody wants your car. It’s a smart car… The people don’t understand all cars will need to be smart cars, or you will not sell, or nobody would buy it. Once that becomes obvious, I think licensing becomes not optional.”

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Tesla confirms it is in talks with major automaker for potential FSD licensing

Many, including us, suspected that Ford was the company that Tesla was speaking of due to Musk’s relationship with Jim Farley, which resulted in the legacy automaker being the first major car company to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), which gave them access to the Supercharging Network.

This catalyzed an onslaught of companies choosing to make the same move as Tesla had truly set itself apart in terms of charging infrastructure.

Companies may be forced to make a similar decision if it can make the same type of statement with the rollout of Robotaxi.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals new details about Robotaxi rollout

The first Tesla Robotaxi unit was spotted in Austin earlier today, and CEO Elon Musk is revealing some cool new details.

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7 hours ago

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June 10, 2025

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed new details about the company’s relatively imminent rollout of the Robotaxi platform as the suspected launch date of June 12 continues to near.

Earlier today, the first video showing the first driverless Tesla Robotaxi in Austin was shared on X, just a day after the City officially listed the company as an autonomous vehicle operator on its website. Tesla is listed as a company in the “Testing” phase.

The initial details of the Robotaxi are being revealed by Musk, who is carefully releasing small tidbits that seem to show the capabilities of the entire Tesla fleet, and not necessarily just the vehicles that will be involved in the initial rollout in Austin.

First Tesla driverless robotaxi spotted in the wild in Austin, TX

His first tidbit is one that many Tesla owners and fans will already know: many Teslas are capable of this driveless performance, but Full Self-Driving is not yet refined to the point where the software is quite ready to handle it. Current versions are robust, but not prepared for driverless navigation. The hardware, however, will enable Teslas to be Robotaxis, even if they’re already purchased by owners:

This is one of the biggest advantages Tesla has over other vehicle makers. Simply put, the Over-the-Air software updates that will roll out to FSD users will eventually make their cars into Robotaxis as well.

However, Musk shed some details on the version of FSD that is being run in these new Robotaxis that were spotted. Musk said that the version these Robotaxis are running is a new version, but will soon “merge to main branch.”

There is also an even newer version that has four times the parameters as this newer version that the test-stage Robotaxis are using, but Musk admits that this needs significant refinement before it is released to the public.

As of now, Tesla is simply teasing the actual launch date of the Robotaxi program, but Bloomberg reported earlier this month that it will occur on June 12.

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