NASA Selects Three Sites For Mars 2020 Mission

NASA scientists in a landing site workshop for the American space agency’s upcoming Mars 2020 mission have shortlisted three sites on the Red Planet for further analysis. The three potential landing sites to send the next Mars rover includes Columbia Hills, Jezero Crater and Northeast Syrtis.

Columbia Hills on Mars is an area where mineral springs once gurgled up from the rocks. In fact, one of the major achievements of the the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover was the discovery that hot springs once flowed here. The discovery was huge because the rover had not found signs of water anywhere else in the Gustav Crater, a 160-kilometer wide area. In addition, further research has shown that a shallow lake may have been formed in Gusev due to past floods.

The other recommended landing site, Jezero Crater, has its own story regarding the wet past of the Red Planet. According to a Space Fellowship report, water has filled and drained away from Jezero at least twice in the past. River channels spilled over the crater wall and formed a lake more than 3.5 billion years ago. Researchers have observed evidence that water transported clay minerals from the neighboring area into the crater after the lake dried up. Subsequently, scientists believe that microbial life could have existed during one or more of those wet periods. Therefore, choosing Jezero Crater as a landing site for sending the Mars 2020 Rover can enable it to look for the fossils and signs of ancient life in the lakebed sediments.

The Northeast Syrtis was once warmed by volcanic activity, and underground heat sources facilitated the flow of hot springs and melted surface ice. Therefore, scientists are of the opinion that microbes could have flourished in the area as liquid water interacted with minerals over successive periods during the early history of Mars.

According to NASA, the Mars 2020 mission is targeted for launch in July 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket, which will take off from the Space Launch Complex 41 located in Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rover will carry out geological assessment of its landing site on the Red Planet, look for signs of ancient Martian life, observe the habitability of the environment, check natural resources and enable scientists to understand the threat risks that future human explorers can face. The rover will also gather a collection of samples for a probable return to Earth by a future mission.