History-making JPL-built Perseverance rover blasts off for Mars on Thursday

PASADENA — A new era of Mars exploration is expected to begin Thursday with the anticipated launch of the Perseverance rover, which was built at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and is billed as the most technologically advanced machinery ever sent to the Red Planet.
The SUV-sized rover Perseverance includes an array of scientific instruments, and it will make space history on at least two fronts:The rover will be equipped with a mini helicopter that will become the first ever flown o