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Watch NASA preview its Perseverance Mars Rover mission launching soon

The next mission to the red planet could leave Earth next month.

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NASA hopes to launch its next Mars Rover in about a month, and it will break down the mission for the public on Wednesday. 

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on July 20. From there it will make the months-long journey to the red planet, landing in February of 2021. 

NASA Mars 2020 rover

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. 

 NASA/JPL-Caltech

Perseverance is the successor to Curiosity and will bring some additional science capabilities to exploring our next-door neighbor, including studying the planet's geology, looking for signs of past life and collecting rock and soil samples that will eventually be brought back to earth. 

NASA will host a preview of the mission Wednesday at 11 a.m. PT with leaders, scientists and engineers from the space agency, including administrator Jim Bridenstine. 

You can watch via the embedded livestream above. NASA encourages the public to ask questions on social media during the briefing using the hashtag #AskNASA.

NASA Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter explore the wilds of Mars

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