NASA Mars Rover to Launch in 2020 with New Instruments to Aid Human Exploration

The next NASA rover is slated to explore Mars as never before. Planned to be sent to the Red Planet in 2020, the new rover will carry seven carefully-selected instruments that will conduct unprecedented science and exploration technology investigations.

The Mars 2020 mission will actually be based on the design of the highly successful Curiosity rover, which landed almost two years ago. This Rover is still operating on Mars and is making a host of discoveries about the past history of the Red Planet. The new rover, though, may make even more findings; it will carry more sophisticated, upgraded hardware and new instruments to conduct geological assessments of the rover's landing site.

"Today we take another important step on our journey to Mars," said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, in a news release. "While getting to and landing on Mars is hard, Curiosity was an iconic example of how our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way for humans to pioneer Mars and beyond. Mars exploration will be this generation's legacy, and the Mars 2020 rover will be another critical step on humans' journey to the Red Planet."

The researchers hope to use the 2020 mission in order to help prepare the way for human exploration. In fact, researchers hope that the rover will advance knowledge of how future human explorers could use natural resources available on the surface of the Red Planet. The ability to live off of the Martian landscape would greatly transform future exploration.

"The 2020 rover will help answer questions about the Martian environment that astronauts will face and test technologies they need before landing on, exploring and returning form the Red Planet," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA. "Mars has resources needed to help sustain life, which can reduce the amount of supplies that human missions will need to carry. Better understanding the Martian dust and weather will be valuable data for planning human Mars missions."

Currently, the researchers are still working on the 2020 mission in order to get it ready in time. Yet once the rover is launched, it could provide unprecedented data about Mars, which could aid in future exploration.

Want to learn more? Check out NASA's Mars programs on the NASA website.