NASA's new Mars rover launches from Florida to seek signs of past life

NASA's next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral on Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $2.4 billion mission to search for traces of potential past life on Earth's planetary neighbor. The mission is scheduled to deploy a mini helicopter on Mars and test out equipment for future human missions to the fourth planet from the sun and is expected to reach Mars next February.