Mars 2020 Perseverance rover being investigated with a solar intensity probe in the Space Simulator Facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA. The effect of sunlight on the rover is being simulated by directing light from powerful xenon lamps onto a mirror that reflects the light onto the rover. The probe measures how much of the light is reaching different parts of the rover to test thermal models. 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. The helicopter will test the first powered flight on Mars. Photographed on 14th October 2019.