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Artistic representation of the March 2020 rover at work on the Red Planet.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
NASA 's next satellite, Mars, will soon see its landing site as scientists meet to discuss the relative merits of four competitors. The mission will investigate whether the red planet has ever received life.
This meeting, which is being held in California, brings together hundreds of people to make a final community recommendation to NASA for the landing site of the March 2020 rover mission.
"The March 2020 landing site could pave the way for Mars exploration for the next decade," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, in a statement. . "I look forward to the lively debate and critical contributions from the scientific and technical community, regardless of the chosen landing site, it will contain the very first batch of Mars soil touched by humans."[NASA’s Mars Rover 2020 Mission in Pictures]
The four landing sites currently under study for the NASA 2020 Rover. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Indeed, March 2020 is designed to be the first part of an expected return mission, although the return home is not yet registered in the official role of the agency. But among the other tasks of March 2020, it will be necessary to collect and package dust samples that a future mission could bring home. Scientists could therefore study Martian soil in terrestrial laboratories for the first time.
But the March 2020 rover can not travel that far. Scientists must choose a landing site that optimizes the mission. Not only should the site avoid creating a danger for the already dangerous process of landing on Mars, but it should also allow access to a range of scientifically intriguing sites.
Scientists have already reduced the site to four options: Columbia Hills, Jezero Crater, Northeast Syrtis and Midway. At the three-day workshop held this week, the scientific advocates of each candidate site will explain the site's appeal. At the end of the event, the group will send a final recommendation to NASA.
The agency plans to announce its final decision before the end of the year, according to the statement. The March 2020 team has plenty of time to finalize the plans for the mission, which is due to land on the neighboring planet in February 2021.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her. @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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