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Cost of Perseverance

The Perseverance rover is projected to cost $2.7 billion dollars, of which $2.2 billion was for spacecraft development, $243 million for launch services, and approximately $300 million for operations and scientific analysis for its 2-year primary mission. The Ingenuity helicopter cost an additional $80 million to build and $5 million to operate during its 1-month mission.

During its development period between 2013 and 2020, the Perseverance rover accounted for 0.0075% of all spending by the United States government.

Mars Perseverance rover spending by fiscal year. Amounts after the current year are official projections. The project began formulation in 2013 and entered the implementation (build) phase in 2016. The completed rover left the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February 2020 for launch in July. Source: Planetary Science Budget Dataset, compiled by Casey Dreier for The Planetary Society (accessible on Google Sheets or downloadable as an Excel file).

Spacecraft Development$2.2 billion
Launch Services (Atlas V 541)$243 million
Prime Mission Operations (2 years)$300 million
Total$2.725 billion
Processing Perseverance

The Cost of Perseverance, in Context

Disney’s global box office revenue for Avengers. The amount of money Google makes in 6 days. The cost of NASA's Perseverance rover is less than you might think.

NASA Perseverance rover (artist's concept)

Perseverance, NASA's newest Mars rover

NASA's Perseverance rover is searching for past life on Mars and collecting samples for future return to Earth.