NASA's Mars 2020 rover has received its nuclear power plant. The Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) unit will provide the robotic spacecraft with 125 W of electricity to operate the drive motors and power the onboard systems.
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ESA is working on a new robotic rover to retrieve containers of Martian rock and soil left behind by NASA's Mars 2020 rover. ESA has now awarded the initial £3.9 million (US$5.2 million) contract to design the new Fetch rover to Airbus, which will undertake the study in Stevenage, England.
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NASA’s Mars 2020 lander has experienced a minor hiccup during preparations for its mission to the Red Planet, with NASA revealing that structural testing has resulted in a fracture to the spacecraft’s heat shield.
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NASA is ramping up for the Mars 2020 mission's July 2020 launch as the space agency begins the Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) phase of the project at the Spacecraft Assembly Facility High Bay 1 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
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NASA is sending a piece of Mars back to the Red Planet on the Mars 2020 rover mission. The space agency's including a meteorite that had its origin on Mars may seem odd, but the purpose is completely practical as the sample will act as a calibration target for one of the mission's main instruments.
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NASA's Mars 2020 mission is well into the testing phase, and now the organization has successfully conducted the first test of a supersonic parachute that will (hopefully) allow the craft to safely touchdown on Mars in early 2021.
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When NASA's Mars 2020 mission sets down on the Red Planet in three years, it will have a record number of cameras aboard. The unmanned, nuclear-powered rover will carry 23 cameras that will have higher resolution more 3D capability, and larger bandwidth than any previous Mars explorer.
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If all goes according to plan, in 2020 NASA will launch a rover to Mars to look for signs of past or present life. To help astrobiologists tease out biological material from other deceiving compounds in the planet's regolith, researchers suggest focussing efforts on finding the element vanadium.
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NASA’s next Mars mission is on track for its July 2020 launch, and now we’re now a little closer to learning where touch down will take place. After a workshop last week, NASA has announced that three potential landing sites have been shortlisted: Northeast Syrtis, Jezero Crater and Columbia Hills.
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Mars and the far side of the Moon are on the itinerary for China’s space program, according to a new white paper released this week. The State Council Information Office document recaps the country’s space-faring achievements over the past five years, and outlines its goals for the next five.
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