Mars 2020 Rover is gearing up for its seven-month
313,586,649 miles journey to the Red Planet and will touch down in the 28-mile-wide (45 kilometers) crater in February 2021.
DESPARDES News Monitor — The Mars 2020 rover is set to land in a Crater, which scientists estimate was once filled with water.
A new photo shared by NASA online this week features the landing site for the space agency’s Mars 2020 mission. The photo was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled to launch next year, is expected to land in the Jezero Crater, located in a region of Mars known as the Syrtis Major quadrangle.
The crater is thought to have once been filled with water, and its watery history is visible in the sedimentary formations that texture its interior surface, as well as its outer contours. The new MRO image showcases the remnants of an ancient delta where in-flowing rivers once entered, bringing water and sediment.
Channeling patterns move both to and from Jezero Crater, and in the MRO photo, fans and deltas can be seen extending out from many of the channels.
Earlier this year, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine detailed the agency’s plans for visiting the moon and Mars.
“For the first time, we are going to cache samples on Mars,” he said. “For the first time, we are going to fly a helicopter on another world with the Mars Helicopter.”
