Mars 2020 Rover to Seek Ancient Life, Prepare Human Missions

- Mars 2020 Rover to Seek Ancient Life, Prepare Human Missions
by AFP, https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news
PASADENA (United States): The Mars 2020 rover, which sets off for the Red Planet next year, will not only search for traces of ancient life, but pave the way for future human missions, NASA scientists said Friday (Dec 27) as they unveiled the vehicle.
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The rover has been constructed in a large, sterile room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, where its driving equipment was given its first successful test last week.
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Shown to invited journalists on Friday, it is scheduled to leave Earth in July 2020 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral, becoming the fifth US rover to land on Mars seven months later in February.
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“It’s designed to seek the signs of life, so we’re carrying a number of different instruments that will help us understand the geological and chemical context on the surface of Mars,” deputy mission leader Matt Wallace told AFP.
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Among the devices on board the rover are 23 cameras, two “ears” that will allow it to listen to Martian winds, and lasers used for chemical analysis.
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ANCIENT LIFE
“What we’re looking for is ancient microbial life – we’re talking about billions of years ago on Mars, when the planet was much more Earth-like,” said Wallace. Back then, the Red Planet had warm surface water, a thicker atmosphere and a magnetic force around it, he explained.
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