Hey, kids! Meet the new Hot Wheels Mars rover! | Human world

The Perseverance rover’s landing on Mars is just days away – February 18, 2021 – and toy manufacturing company Mattel is joining in the fun! The creator of the hugely popular Hot Wheels series is releasing a new diecast model – the Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover, inspired by the actual rover – to mark the occasion of its landing.

How to Watch Perseverance Landing Live Coverage

The new Hot Wheels model, a detailed 1:64 scale replica of Perseverance (approximately 3 inches or 8 cm long), is part of a new space-themed mini-collection, the first in addition 20 years old. It is aimed at ages three and up and will sell for a suggested retail price of $ 1.09. We have yet to find a place to buy the new Hot Wheels rover online, but it’s supposed to be in stores since late January. Try to search for “Hot Wheels retailers near you”.

Manson Cheung, Staff Sculptor and Senior 3D Modeler for Mattel Hot Wheels, said in a post to CollectSpace.com:

We want the car to be there so the kids have it in their hands when the actual rover lands in February. We want the kids to be like, ‘Oh I have the rover in my hand and I can see it on Mars,’ so there is a connection for the kids, not only with Hot Wheels, but also with the ‘space.

According to Mattel’s press release:

Space exploration enthusiasts and Hot Wheels enthusiasts of all ages can piece together the captivating journey of NASA’s Perseverance Rover as it studies the Martian landscape and looks for signs of ancient microbial life, collecting samples during next year.

The Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover pays homage to cutting-edge instruments and technology that will help pave the way for human missions to Mars, studying critical data about the geology and climate of Mars and potentially returning Martian samples to Earth.

Hot Wheels and NASA have a partnership dating back more than 30 years, which began in the mid-1980s. The first NASA model manufactured by Hot Wheels was the Sojourner Mars Rover in 1996, which was then part of the Action Packs. of the society. Then come the Apollo mission (1998), the Galileo mission (1999), John Glenn (1999) and the JPL Returns to Mars (1999).

Hot Wheels design teams can take tours of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to see the actual spacecraft before launch.

Due to the current interest in space exploration among children and the general public, Hot Wheels has brought back the Space mini-collection for 2021. Needless to say, the Perseverance rover is a perfect addition to this collection.

Scott Shaffstall, senior director of public relations for vehicles, action figures and licensing at Mattel, added:

NASA’s Perseverance rover, just in its name, goes hand in hand with the spirit of Hot Wheels’ Accepted Challenge. It is very much related to this vision of trying, failing, repeating until it is done right.

So in our mind, this mission is already a success because it moves the needle and brings us closer to Mars.

The space mini-collection was brought back in 2021 due to the increased interest of children and the general public in space exploration. The rover was an obvious fit and we knew it would land on Mars.

Perseverance is expected to land in Jezero Crater on Mars on February 18. Its main mission is to search for evidence of ancient microbial life. From a design point of view, the rover is very similar to the Curiosity rover, currently in Gale Crater, but has different scientific instruments. While Curiosity focuses on finding evidence of past habitability, which it has done, Perseverance is looking for direct evidence of life itself. This will be the first mission since Viking 1 and 2 landers in the late 1970s / early 1980s to do so.

Jezero Crater was a lake a few billion years ago and contains rich sediment and clays that could possibly hold clues to microbial life, if any. The rover will land near a former river delta inside the still clearly visible crater where a river once emptied into the lake. The Jezero crater is therefore a privileged place for the search for Martian life.

Perseverance even has a companion, a small drone-like helicopter called Ingenuity that will attempt to be the first plane to fly to Mars. It will fly past the rover, looking for good places for Perseverance to stop, analyze and take rock and soil samples. The rover’s on-board laboratory can perform substantial analyzes itself, but some samples will also be stored for later return to Earth by another mission. Laboratories on Earth can then do a much more detailed study of the samples for evidence of past life.

Mattel also made a similar replica of the still active Curiosity rover in 2012.

Bottom line: Famous Hot Wheels toy maker Mattel just released a new Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover to help NASA celebrate the landing of its Perseverance rover on Mars on February 18.

Via CollectSPACE