Matthew Nelson
NASA has unveiled to the media the rover unit that will be fielded for the agency’s Mars exploration mission in 2020.
The Mars 2020 rover is expected to launch in July or August and will arrive at Mars’ Jezero Crater in 2021 to seek signs of microbial life and study the red planet’s climate and geology, NASA said Friday.
The vehicle will also gather samples that will support the agency’s manned Mars mission.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will lead the rover’s operations, while the Launch Services Program will handle launch management services for the mission.
Construction efforts for the vehicle are undergoing at Spacecraft Assembly Facility’s High Bay 1. A team of engineers and technicians will deliver the vehicle at Cape Canaveral in Florida for its final processing and tests.
