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Nasa: Meet Perseverance - the new Mars rover named by kids

nasa-rover-perseverance.Image source, NASA/JPL-Caltech

Nasa has revealed the name of its new Mars rover - Perseverance!

The rover is set to launch off into space in July later this year, and should hopefully arrive on Mars in February 2021.

The name was chosen by Alexander Mather, a 13-year-old student from Virginia, in the US, who took part in Nasa's competition to name the rover.

Nasa got around 28,000 entries and a panel of nearly 4,700 volunteer judges helped to whittle these down to the final nine contenders.

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Image source, NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Image caption,

Alexander Mather wants to be a Nasa engineer when he grows up

The final nine names were: Endurance, Tenacity, Promise, Perseverance, Vision, Clarity, Ingenuity, Fortitude, Courage.

These names were then opened up to the public to vote for their favourite, and Perseverance received more than 770,000 votes online.

Nasa's director of science, Thomas Zurbuchen said: "Alex's entry captured the spirit of exploration."

"Like every exploration mission before, our rover is going to face challenges, and it's going to make amazing discoveries. We can't wait to see that nameplate on Mars."

Image source, NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image caption,

The rover's name has been etched into its robotic arm

The rover will spend at least one Mars year, which is equivalent to two Earth years, studying the planet, searching for signs of past microbial life, collecting samples and it'll also help experts learn more about the planet's climate and surface.

It's hoped that it'll lead the way for more human exploration of the red planet in the future.

It'll be following in the tracks of other amazing rovers like Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity.