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 12:12 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's an explanation of how the recent rovers have been advancing our understanding of possible life on Mars.

[30 July 2020 12:13 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's some of the kit Perseverance will be carrying in an attempt to better understand Mars.

[30 July 2020 12:22 · Andrew Griffin]

Here's the scene at the launchpad this morning. Everything is a "go" so far – looking like everything will be ready to go in about half an hour.

[30 July 2020 12:26 · Andrew Griffin]

Gregory Porter is singing! He's doing America The Brave to celebrate the launch.

Here's some background on that from Reuters:

Jazz artist Gregory Porter, whose new single "Concorde" is an ode to space exploration, is set to perform on Thursday as part of a ceremony marking the launch of NASA's next generation rover that will search for signs of habitable conditions on Mars.

The Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter is scheduled to sing the Ray Charles version of "America The Beautiful" during the U.S. space agency's broadcast of the countdown to the launch of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Mission at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Porter said he will perform from his living room in Bakersfield, California because of the coronavirus pandemic. His record label said Porter was invited after NASA officials heard "Concorde."

"I wrote the song when I was on an airplane thinking about the idea of ascension, both in the body but in the mind as well. Flying into the stratosphere," Porter told Reuters. "And so, anyway, NASA caught wind of it and they were interested... in partnering in the release of the song and the release of the video."

In the "Concorde" music video, Porter is dressed as an astronaut and appears opposite his young son, Demyan.

"When I'm floating around in the galaxy, hanging out with the stars, the sweetest thing to do is to come back down, to drop down to and to be on the soil and to be with your loved ones. And that's what the song is about," Porter said.

Porter said he has been a spaceflight fan since watching NASA's first shuttle launch in 1981. He remembers as a 9 year old being concerned about how the astronauts would return to Earth and making sure they landed back at Edwards Air Force Base, not far from his childhood home.

The robotic rover is intended to study Martian geology and seek signs of ancient microbial life.

[30 July 2020 12:31 · Andrew Griffin]

Mimi Aung, who worked on the Mars helicopter project, just said that there's been an "earthquake" where she is.

But otherwise she's speaking in detail about the difficulties of building Ingenuity, the helicopter that will fly across Mars.

You can read more on that here.

[30 July 2020 12:35 · Andrew Griffin]

The earthquake is in California, where the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is based. The rocket isn't launching from there – but many of the engineers who are overseeing the launch are.

Seems like everything is OK.

Nasa administrator Jim Bridenstine notes that it's good news that the rocket isn't launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. That's where the InSight lander went from.

[30 July 2020 12:38 · Andrew Griffin]

With just over 10 minutes left until launch, the countdown is going ahead. Nasa team is ready to proceed.

Earthquake doesn't seem to have caused any major problems.

[30 July 2020 12:44 · Andrew Griffin]

6-and-a-half minutes until liftoff.

[30 July 2020 12:45 · Andrew Griffin]

Everything is on track for a launch as expected: at 7.50 local time, or 12.50 UK, or five minutes or so.

[30 July 2020 12:48 · Andrew Griffin]

2 minutes until launch.