Old Glory on the Red Planet
- The United States flag has been planted on Mars as part of NASA’s Perseverance rover mission.
- The flag is attached to an aluminum plate mounted at the base of the rover’s mast, which was captured by the WATSON camera on June 28, 2025.
- The WATSON camera is part of the SHERLOC instrument, built by Malin Space Science Systems and operated jointly with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
- The Perseverance rover is managed by Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
- The image of the flag was taken on the 1,548th day (sol) of the mission, providing a unique moment in the exploration of Mars.
The United States flag adorns an aluminum plate mounted at the base of the mast, or “head,” of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. This image of the plate was taken on June 28, 2025 (the 1,548th day, or sol, of the mission), by the WATSON (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering) camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
WATSON, part of an instrument called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), was built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) in San Diego and is operated jointly by MSSS and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. JPL, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
Learn more about Perseverance’s latest science.