Images: NASA's Next Mars Rover Launching in 2020

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NASA Mars Rover 2020 Design Sketch

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A sketch of the design for NASA's 2020 Mars rover. Planning for NASA's 2020 Mars rover envisions a basic structure that capitalizes on re-using the design and engineering work done for the NASA rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012, but with new science instruments selected through competition for accomplishing different science objectives with the 2020 mission. [Read the Full Story]

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NASA's 2020 Mars Rover: Timeline

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This graphic depicts the mission timeline for NASA's 2020 Mars rover, which will seek signs of past life on the Red Planet. [Read the Full Story]

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NASA MArs Rover 2020 Strategy

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This graphic shows NASA's progressive strategy of Mars exploration, including the 2020 Mars rover. [Read the Full Story]

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Mars Rover 2020: Sample Canister

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This shows one prototype for hardware to cache samples of cores drilled from Martian rocks for possible future return to Earth. A major objective for NASA's Mars 2020 rover, as described by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, would be to collect and package a carefully selected set of up to 31 samples in a cache that could be returned to Earth by a later mission. For scale, the diameter of the core sample shown in the image is 0.4 inch (1 centimeter). [Read the Full Story]

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NASA Mars Rover 2020 Nested Images

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Mars 2020 rover, as described by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, would have capabilities for nested-scale observations down to microscopic scale. An example of nested images by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is seen here. [Read the Full Story]

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Mars Rover 2020: Nested Images

Credit: Left image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/IRAP/LPGNantes/CNRS/LGLyon/Planet-Terre. Right image credit: M. Fries

NASA's Mars 2020 rover, as described by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, would have capabilities for nested-scale observations and localized composition identification down to microscopic scale. An example here: At left, a mosaic of images from the remote micro-imager of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity covers a scene about 3.5 inches (about 9 centimeters) across. [Read the Full Story]

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Mars Rover 2020 Sketch

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This NASA artist's sketch for a Mars rover launching in 2020 is loosely based on the agency's Curiosity rover built for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. [Read the Full Story]

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2020 Mars Rover Goals

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Seeking signs of past life on Mars would be a multi-step process, according to the Science Definition Team for NASA's Mars 2020 mission. The process would begin with using the 2020 rover's instruments to assess whether past conditions were favorable for microbial life and for preserving evidence about Martian life, if it existed. The next step would be searching for possible evidence of any past life, or "potential biosignatures." [Read the Full Story]

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Mars Rover 2020 Illustration

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

This NASA artist concept for the agency's 2020 Mars rover is loosely based on the Curiosity rover in the Mars Science Laboratory mission. [Read the Full Story]

Images: NASA's Next Mars Rover Launching in 2020

NASA Mars Rover 2020 Design Sketch

NASA's 2020 Mars Rover: Timeline

NASA MArs Rover 2020 Strategy

Mars Rover 2020: Sample Canister

NASA Mars Rover 2020 Nested Images

Mars Rover 2020: Nested Images

Mars Rover 2020 Sketch

2020 Mars Rover Goals

Mars Rover 2020 Illustration

Tariq Malik

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