Three potential landing sites shortlisted for NASA's Mars 2020 mission!

Three potential landing sites for NASA's next Mars rover. (Image courtesy: NASA)

 New Delhi: NASA's 2020 Mars mission is one of the most anticipated projects and has science and space aficionados waiting with bated breath for any news or updates regarding the same.

Year 2020 is not too far away and considering the magnitude of the situation, NASA is leaving no stone unturned to prepare for one of its biggest missions yet.

Data from various tests, experiments, discoveries, probes, etc., are being collected and taken into consideration by scientists so as to make the astronauts' safety their top priority during the mission and this involves finalizing the perfect landing site.

After much debate and discussion, the participants in a landing site workshop for the 2020 mission have recommended three locations on the Red Planet for further evaluation. The three potential landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover include Northeast Syrtis (a very ancient portion of Mars’ surface), Jezero crater, (once home to an ancient Martian lake), and Columbia Hills (potentially home to an ancient hot spring, explored by NASA’s Spirit rover).

In September 2016, Alex Longo, a teenager from Raleigh, North Carolina state, suggested that NASA should land the next rover at Gusev Crater - the same place where they landed rover Spirit in 2004. NASA was highly impressed and took Longo's recommendation into consideration and have now added it to the shortlisted sites.

As per NASA, Mars 2020 is targeted for launch in July 2020 aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will conduct geological assessments of its landing site on Mars, determine the habitability of the environment, search for signs of ancient Martian life, and assess natural resources and hazards for future human explorers. It will also prepare a collection of samples for possible return to Earth by a future mission.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will build and manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.