After an overwhelming success of Mars rover mission 2012, NASA’s next nuclear powered Mars rover is planned to launch in 2020. Scientists say that – it is gonna be way smarter & efficient than Curiosity, which is currently exploring the red planet.

Curiosity had an awesome design, heck lot of instruments, also its launch & entry into atmosphere of Mars & its landing – all went perfect as planned.

The rover 2020 mission is planned to explore a selected site which is geologically diverse & gives signs of having a past life. This rover will collect samples of soil & rock and drop them at a selected point. Later those samples will be scooped up another mission to deliver the specimens collected back to Earth.
The development of this mission is a combination of the “old” and the “new,” said Gentry Lee, chief engineer for Solar System Exploration at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.
Mission engineers said that the rover is going to get a new refined design.

Curiosity has been battling wear & tear on its wheels.

The 2020 rover wheels are going to become heavier along with the rover’s body becoming a little longer. That may change the rover’s mobility system.

“We are really looking at ways to make this large heritage, build-to-print rover drive faster and do more science on the surface of Mars” said Jennifer Trosper, JPL’s mission manager on Mars 2020.

The future rover would have machines which will increase the speed of it even on rough terrains, Trosper said.

The mechanical design & additional instruments would make mission efficiency jump from Curiosity’s roughly 55% to 80% !!
Eagerly waiting for _______ !

The Mars Space Laboratory mission rover names –
1st was SOJOURNER;
2nd was OPPORTUNITY & it’s twin SPIRIT;
3rd was CURIOSITY;
all giving a positive inspirational, motivational feeling !

What do you think would be 2020 rover’s name ? Share with us in the comment section below…