For some scientists, Mars 2020 is a mission of perseverance

An artist's concept of the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, part of the Mars 2020 mission. The rover will collect rock and soil samples, seal them in tubes and drop the tubes on the surface for later pickup and return to Earth, potentially by 2031. (Graphic courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech) Like millions of people around the world, David Shuster and his 7-year-old daughter cheered wildly as the Perseverance rover was lowered by sky crane to the Martian surface on Feb. 18 to start years of exploration. But for him and a subset of the Mars 2020 science team, true gratification will be delayed. Shuster is one of 15 members of the team focused on sample return, which means that they - or their graduate student successors - won't get their hands on actual Mars rocks for another 10 years, at the earliest. NASA and the European Space Agency will launch two additional missions to collect the rocks that Perseverance sets aside and rocket them back to Earth, ideally by 2031.