NASA has announced the landing site of the Mars 2020 mission. The rover will search for life in the former river delta

NASA specialists have selected the landing site for the rover, scheduled for launch in 2020. It will be the region of the former delta river of the so-called “Mars”. Jezero crater. This is where the rover will look for possible evidence of past life on Mars.

Selectedor landing site of the upcoming Mars 2020 mission took five years to develop. During this time, every detail of more than 60 potential sites was checked. Everything has been discussed with a team from NASA and the scientific communityow. The Mars 2020 mission is scheduled to launch in July 2020. The landing is expected to take place in February 2021.

The Mars 2020 mission is NASA’s next step in the exploration of the Red Planet. The rover will search for a traceow microbial life. Mars is currently cold and dry, but it was once warm and humid, scientists believe, and such conditions may have been conducive to the origin of life.

The rover will also collect probki rocks and soil and will store them. NASA and ESA are looking into the possibility of bringing these probek to Earth, but will accomplish this if in ogole, a very different mission. Thus, the landing site of the Mars 2020 mission may also set the stage for future missions, whichore will take place in the future.

Scientists say that the chosen site – the Jezero Crater – from 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago filled a nearly 500-meter deepoin the lake, whichore was connected to a nearby river. It is located on poNorth of the Martian rownik on the western edge of Isidis Planitia – rownina located within the giant impact basin.

– The landing site offers a geologically rich terrain with landforms dating back as far as 3.5 billion years, ktore could potentially answer important questions about planetary evolution and astrobiology. The collection of probek from this unique area will revolutionize the way theob thinking about Mars and its ability to support life – Thomas Zurbuchen of NASA said.

The landing site chosen by the researchers offers one of the oldest and most scientifically interesting landscapesoin the Mars. Scientists are convinced that the site was once the delta of a river thatora could have picked up along the way and accumulated in sediments possible organic particles and other potential signs of microbial life.

– The river delta is a good place to look for evidenceow that life was deposited there and then preserved for billions of years,” said Ken Farley, a Mars 2020 project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. If life really existed on Mars, it is worth looking for it right there.

The selected location offers many promising targetsow, especially in terms of taking probek of rocks and soil. Researchers believe there are at least five roof the kind ofow rocks, including clays and carbonates, ktore have a high potential for preserving microbial traceoin the past and indicateowks on the environment.

Rogeological diversity, whichora is what makes the Jezero Crater so attractive to scientistsow, making it a challenge to engineerow, ktoers are responsible for landing the rover. Mars 2020 mission specialists will use the same crane landing maneuver, ktory was used successfully for the Curiosity rover in 2012. The site where Curiosity landed – Gale crater, roalso somewhat resembles the chosen location for the Mars 2020 landing.

There are numerous boulders in the area, nierowabilities and depressions of the terrain. This poses a challenge for engineersow. – In robotic planetary exploration, nothing is more difficult than landing. Teamoł engineerow of the Mars 2020 mission has done a tremendous amount of work to prepare us for this – admitted Zurbuchen.