The Mars 2020 Rover: an overview of the mission and a description of the Jezero Crater landing site

Speaker:  Eric Hinterman, HSL PhD candidate

Abstract: The Mars 2020 rover is launching to Mars in July, 2020 and will land on Mars in early 2021. It aims to i) seek signs of past microbial life, ii) collect core rock and soil samples and store them on the surface, and iii) test oxygen production from the atmosphere to prepare for a human mission. In this talk, I will give an overview of the Mars 2020 rover and provide updates on its current status as we prepare for launch. In addition, I will explain how the targeted landing site on Mars – Jezero Crater – was selected and discuss what we hope to learn there.