Mars 2020 – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

NASA to decide soon whether flying drone will launch with Mars 2020 rover

March 15, 2018 Stephen Clark

Testing of a lightweight robotic helicopter designed to fly in the alien atmosphere of Mars has produced encouraging results in recent months, and NASA officials expect to decide soon whether the aerial drone will accompany the agency’s next rover to the red planet set for liftoff in 2020.

NASA studies mission to return samples from Mars by end of 2020s

August 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA is examining options to launch a robotic mission as soon as 2026 to pick up rock specimens from the surface of Mars and bring them back to Earth, moving forward the timeline for a sample return mission as the agency postpones plans for a new Mars reconnaissance and data relay orbiter.

Curiosity rover shows new signs of wheel wear

March 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

Engineers have spotted two small breaks in the treading on the left middle wheel on NASA’s Curiosity rover, one of six wheels that have moved the robot nearly 10 miles across the Martian surface since landing in August 2012.

Trump budget blueprint focuses on deep space exploration, commercial partnerships

March 16, 2017 William Harwood

The Trump administration is proposing $19.1 billion for NASA in its fiscal 2018 budget blueprint, a 0.8 percent decrease from 2017 funding levels, focusing on deep space exploration, both human and robotic, and increased public-private partnerships to lower costs and encourage private sector innovation.

Scientists narrow list of landing sites for NASA’s next Mars rover

February 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A rover NASA plans to launch to Mars in 2020 will likely explore one of three locations selected last week by a scientific advisory group, which picked candidate landing sites that were once homes to ancient lakes and hot springs.

NASA books nuclear-certified Atlas 5 rocket for Mars 2020 rover launch

July 25, 2016 Justin Ray

America’s next Mars rover, a $2.1 billion nuclear-powered vehicle to search for evidence that life once existed there, will be launched to the Red Planet in the summer of 2020 by a powerful Atlas 5 rocket.