Nasa Mars launch: Space agency defies coronavirus and earthquake to launch Perseverance rover to red planet – as it happened

The NASA InSight spacecraft launches onboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-V rocket on May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Nasa is heading to Mars after launching a rocket from Earth today.

The space agency is sending its Perseverance rover – its strongest and smartest explorer visitor to the surface yet – to look for evidence of ancient life on the Martian surface.

The rover is carrying a helicopter that will make the first ever flight on another planet, as well as a variety of tools that will allow it to explore the surface looking for evidence of past alien activity.

The rocket is the third to take off for Mars this month, as space agencies leap through the brief window in which the planets align to allow an efficient trip to the Red Planet. The UAE launched its Hope orbiter last week, followed by the Chinese Questions to Heaven spacecraft shortly after.

The European Space Agency and Roscosmos were forced to postpone the launch of their lander, Rosalind Franklin, after delays meant it would not be able to leave in time.

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.

[30 July 2020 07:40 · Andrew Griffin]

Welcome to The Independent's coverage of Nasa's mission to Mars.

[30 July 2020 07:53 · Andrew Griffin]

The launch window opens at 7.50am local eastern time, or 12.50am in the UK.

Nasa has a two-hour window for the launch, meaning that if conditions are bad at the beginning, it will be able to wait it out in the hope that they will clear. (That is in contrast with recent launches like the crewed SpaceX mission, which either had to launch on time or couldn't launch at all, leading its first attempt to be scrubbed.)

But the weather is looking pretty good. There is a 20 per cent chance that bad weather could cause problems – the concerns are with clouds expected above the launchpad.

[30 July 2020 08:53 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's the full rundown on where you can watch the launch today. (The answer: is a lot of places!)

[30 July 2020 09:51 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's a big roundup of what's going to happen today – and why. 

[30 July 2020 10:05 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's everything you need to know about the time of today's launch – and why that's important.

[30 July 2020 11:11 · Andrew Griffin]

It's a busy week for Nasa. Today is the Mars launch – then, with barely a moment to rest, Sunday will see two astronauts splash down off the Florida coast.

Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will arrive in the Crew Dragon spacecraft, called Endeavour, which was designed and built by SpaceX.

The duo will close out a mission that was designed to test SpaceX's human spaceflight system, including launch, docking, splashdown, and recovery operations, Nasa said.

You can read more about that launch – the last time Nasa conducted one on this scale – here.

[30 July 2020 11:24 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's a deeply interesting piece about "Mars Jars", and their complicated history.

[30 July 2020 11:44 · Andrew Griffin]

Nasa's Perseverance rover is tweeting from its own account, which can be found @NasaPersavere.

(Like all Nasa spacecraft, it tweets in the first person, which I suppose is nice but always makes me feel very sorry for the rovers, all that distance from Earth, never expected to return again from Mars, trundling around until they run out of battery and die.)

[30 July 2020 12:06 · Andrew Griffin]

With 50 minutes or so left to go, Nasa's live coverage has begun. You can find it here:

[30 July 2020 12:10 · Andrew Griffin]

It's bright and quiet morning at the Kennedy Space Centre. As you can see from the plastic shields, Nasa is still being very careful about the coronavirus outbreak – and there won't be the same kind of crowds you'd normally get for this sort of launch.