Mars 2020 – Page 5 – Astronomy Now

NASA approves helicopter to launch with 2020 Mars rover

11 May 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA is adding a small helicopter to the agency’s Mars 2020 rover that will become the first heavier-than-air vehicle to fly on another planet. The technology demonstrator features twin counter-rotating blades.

Return to sender: Mars rock gets a ride home

13 February 2018 Astronomy Now

NASA plans to use a piece of a martian meteorite as a calibration target for a high-precision laser instrument aboard the agency’s Mars 2020 rover, marking the first round trip for a fragment of the red planet blasted into space during an ancient impact.

NASA studies mission to return samples from Mars by end of 2020s

29 August 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA is examining options to launch a robotic mission as soon as 2026 to pick up rock specimens from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth, moving forward the timeline for a sample return mission as the agency postpones plans for a new Mars reconnaissance and data relay orbiter.

Curiosity rover shows new signs of wheel wear

2 April 2017 Stephen Clark

Engineers have spotted two small breaks in the treading on the left middle wheel on NASA’s Curiosity rover, one of six wheels that have moved the robot nearly 16 kilometres (10 miles) across the Martian surface since landing in August 2012.

Scientists narrow list of landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover

14 February 2017 Stephen Clark

A rover NASA plans to launch to Mars in 2020 will likely explore one of three locations selected last week by a scientific advisory group, which picked candidate landing sites that were once homes to ancient lakes and hot springs.