What is the equivalent of Curiosity's "MSL" in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar?

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Answers to Where does MSL end and Curiosity begin? explain the difference. There was much fanfare for the naming contest for the Perseverance rover, but I don't know what the mission is called.

Question: What is the equivalent of Curiosity's "MSL" in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar? Will it also be a "science laboratory" while in transit to Mars?

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 24 '20 at 05:09

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According to my extensive research on the topic, Mars 2020 is the name of the mission; Mars 2020 is to MSL as Perseverance is to Curiosity, but the Mars 2020 mission also includes the Ingenuity drone, which had no parallel in MSL. I don't see any references to a "science laboratory" on the Mars 2020 page.

answered Jul 24 '20 at 05:09

Russell Borogove

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Thanks! I'd always thought that the term "science laboratory" meant that there was stuff that was "doing science" besides the rover, but I don't see anything about that in the linked question so I've asked separately: Did the Mars Science Laboratory do any science that wasn't done by Curiosity proper? – uhoh Jul 24 '20 at 05:18
Oh, I just caught that, grin! – uhoh Jul 25 '20 at 10:27

What is the equivalent of Curiosity's "MSL" in the context of Perseverance? What's the official name of the mission? Are the distinctions similar?

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