Right now it’s simply called Mars 2020 but waiting to find a real name for the next NASA’s Mars Rover the agency announced the instruments it will bring in the next robotic mission to Mars. NASA received 58 proposals from researchers around the world, a remarkable quantity, twice the number received for the missions of the recent past.
The Mars Rover Curiosity represented a revolution of sorts for the architecture of the robot, for the amount of instruments and for the system of landing on Mars compared to the previous Mars Rovers, Opportunity and Spirit. Instead, the Mars 2020 will be an evolution of Curiosity therefore it starts with an existing design to be modified taking into account the experience of the two Earth’s years of mission on Mars that are about to be completed and the instruments to be sent.
The Mars 2020 mission will have to study even more deeply soil samples to check whether they contains life forms or at least in the past there was life on Mars. In addition to these scientific studies, the new rover will carry out work that will be useful for future missions, even with astronauts.
Scientific research remains the priority for the Mars 2020 mission so here are the seven instruments selected by NASA for the new rover:
MastCam-Z. An advanced camera with the ability to shoot panoramic and stereoscopic images, also with zoom.
SuperCam. An Instrument that can provide images but also the analysis of the chemical composition of a sample to be used in mineralogical study and for the search of organic materials.
Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL). An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, which also contains a device that records images to accurately determine the composition of the materials present on the surface of Mars.
Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC). A spectrometer that will provide fine-scale images and uses an ultraviolet laser to determine the fine-scale mineralogy and detect organic materials.
The Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE). An exploration technology that will produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide present in the Martian atmosphere.
Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA). A set of sensors that provide measurements on temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, dust size and shape.
Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Exploration (RIMFAX). A radar that can penetrate the soil which will provide high resolution measurements of the subsoil structure.
The 2020 Mars rover will collect soil samples that will be stored to be returned to Earth by a possible future mission. In this way, the most interesting samples can be analyzed even more deeply by specialized laboratories. The rover will also help a possible manned mission thanks to MOXIE, which will be used to process the carbon dioxide present in the Martian atmosphere to produce oxygen. This Instrument will allow to experiment the technology directly on Mars to make sure that it works efficiently.
The Mars Rovers Opportunity and Curiosity are working very well on the red planet. The next rover will represent a further step forward for scientific research but also in preparation for the arrival of humans on Mars.
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