“Built for Mars: The Perseverance Rover” Premieres on National Geographic, February 18 @ 9PM

With rare access, BUILT FOR MARS: THE PERSEVERANCE ROVER goes behind the scenes at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to follow the birth of the Perseverance rover, whose primary mission is to accomplish a feat that’s never been done before: search for traces of life in an ancient river delta on Mars and collect samples for eventual return to Earth. To launch on time, the team working on the new rover must battle through gut-wrenching setbacks and a global pandemic. This two-hour special shines a spotlight on the essential but little-known role of the flight technicians – the mechanics, machinists, and other hands-on workers who are entrusted with the crucial job of turning the scientists’ goals and the engineers’ designs into reality, with one-of-a-kind hardware built for Mars.