NASA successfully launched its Perseverance Mars rover on Friday, set to touch down on the red planet in February next year.

Luke Grant spoke with astrobiologist and PHD candidate with Sydney’s Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Bonnie Teece, about Australia’s involvement in the historic launch.

“Australia holds some of the oldest rocks on Earth,” she told Luke Grant.

“That means if we study these rocks and where life got to on Earth by that stage, we might be able to find the same thing on Mars.”