We are all excited about the Perseverance rover, which is a NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory robot for exploring the geology of Mars while searching for signs of past life. The 2,260-pound rover will have an aeroshell capsule that protects it during the 7-month space flight.

The Mars 2020 aeroshell has a heat shield and cone-shaped back shell measuring 15 feet in diameter. It is made of

a composite aluminum honeycomb structure sandwiched by graphite-epoxy face sheets. The heat shield is covered with tiles of a protective material called phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) that can withstand the more than 2,370 degrees Fahrenheit seen during peak heating.

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