Seeking life on Mars: Nasa prepares to launch its latest rover

Perseverance mission aims to land on crater to search for possible microbial Martians

Nasa's most sophisticated rover yet is due to blast off for Mars on a mission to answer one of the most profound questions: did life ever emerge on another planet?

Mission controllers have set their sights on the 28-mile-wide (45km) Jezero crater north of the planet's equator. The landing site is one of the most promising spots for any microbial Martians to have been preserved in rock formed when the crater held a lake nine times larger than Loch Ness.