Mars 2020 Perseverance rover being built at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA. The panels with gold tubing (right) will encase the rover's battery, a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) that generates electricity from the decay of Plutonium-238. The gold tubes are part of a heat exchange system that will carry heat generated by the battery to parts of the rover that need warming before dissipating any excess heat. The Mars 2020 mission, part of NASA'S Mars Exploration Program, launched on 30th July 2020. It carried the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. The rover will search for habitable conditions in the ancient past and signs of past microbial life on Mars.