Perseverance also brought with it a small prototype helicopter drone named Ingenuity that will take to the martian skies in a series of test flights. Officially, Ingenuity doesn’t have any science objectives to meet — instead, it's considered a tech demo to prove that flying drones in Mars’ thin atmosphere is feasible.
After Ingenuity’s test flights, Perseverance will spend its time on Mars searching for signs of ancient microbial life. Perseverance will also collect and store rock samples, which will hopefully be sent to Earth one day for intensive lab studies — more detailed than could be carried out remotely with onboard instruments.
But for now, Perseverance is safe and ready to begin its life on Mars — to investigate our red neighbor’s ancient past, and help pave the way for humans to finally step foot on another planet.