Mars 2020 Rover

[NASA will send a new rover to Mars year 2020 and also return some samples from Mars to Earth. The rover is similar to the Curiosity rover already there. Here are some facts about it - the video link at the end of this post is rather informative. /1/ /2/]

Figure 1. Computer-Design Drawing for NASA's 2020 Mars Rover

"The as-yet unnamed Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA on 4 December 2012 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Unionin San Francisco. The rover's design is derived from the Curiosity rover, and will use many components already fabricated and tested, but it will carry different scientific instruments and a core drill."

Figure 2. Mars Sample Return is a proposed mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to Earth. The mission would use robotic systems and a Mars ascent rocket to collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis.

"A key mission requirement for this rover is that it must help prepare NASA for its Mars sample-return mission (MSR) campaign, which is needed before any crewed mission takes place. Such effort would require three additional vehicles: an orbiter, a fetch rover, and a Mars ascent vehicle (MAV).

Figure 3. Mars 2020 Rover - Science Instruments

Dozens of samples would be collected and cached by the Mars 2020 rover, and would be left on the surface of Mars for possible later retrieval. A "fetch rover" would retrieve the sample caches and deliver them to a Mars ascent vehicle (MAV). In July 2018 NASA contracted Airbus to produce a "fetch rover" concept. The MAV would launch from Mars and enter a 500 km orbit and rendezvous with a new Mars orbiter. The sample container would be transferred to an Earth entry vehicle (EEV) which would bring it to Earth, enter the atmosphere under a parachute and hard-land for retrieval and analyses in specially designed safe laboratories."


VIDEOS

YouTube video: "The Mars 2020 Rover (collab with Fraser Cain) | Answers With Joe"

YouTube video: "Mars sample return"

YouTube video: "Mars Sample Return Simulation : sample retrieval and transfer"

YouTube video: "Mars Rover Sample Return Mission (1988)"

RESOURCES

/1/ Wikipedia Mars 2020 Mission

/2/ YouTube

* * *