NASA building new rover for Mars 2020 mission

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NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA was started in 1958 as a part of the United States government. NASA is in charge of U.S. science and technology that has to do with airplanes or space.

NASA gave a sneak peek on Tuesday of the rover being designed for their 2020 mission to Mars.

Relying on many of the systems created for the 2012 Curiosity rover, the new rover looks similar, but will have seven new instruments, redesigned wheels, and more autonomy, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

The 2020 mission plans to study areas of the planet considered to have once been habitable, searching for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will also collect samples of rock and soil, and set them aside with the goal of collecting them and returning them to Earth in future missions.

The rover is set for launch in July or August 2020 with an estimated landing on Mars in February 2021.