Tag Archives: M2020

Mars 2020 rover power system fueling begins

Posted on July 25, 2019 by rburnham

NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, has given the go-ahead to begin fueling the Mars 2020 rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG. The generator will power the rover and help keep it warm while exploring … Continue reading →

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Mars 2020 rover: T-minus one year and counting

Posted on July 17, 2019 by rburnham

The launch period for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover opens exactly one year from today, July 17, 2020, and extends through Aug. 5, 2020. The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and land at Mars’ Jezero … Continue reading →

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Pit crew jumps in; Mars 2020 rover gets wheels

Posted on July 12, 2019 by rburnham

Constructing an exquisitely complex vehicle like the Mars 2020 rover takes serious teamwork. On June 13, 2019, more than a dozen “bunny suit”-clad engineers rolled past another milestone in the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA’s Jet … Continue reading →

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SuperCam installed on Mars 2020 rover

Posted on July 3, 2019 by rburnham

Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have installed the SuperCam Mast Unit onto the Mars 2020 rover. The instrument’s camera, laser and spectrometers can identify the chemical and mineral makeup of targets as small as a pencil … Continue reading →

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Mars 2020 rover: Landing with terrain-relative navigation

Posted on July 2, 2019 by rburnham

The view of the Sea of Tranquility rising up to meet Neil Armstrong during the first astronaut landing on the Moon was not what Apollo 11 mission planners had intended. They had hoped to send the lunar module Eagle toward … Continue reading →

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Mars 2020 rover’s robotic arm installed

Posted on June 28, 2019 by rburnham

In this image, taken on June 21, 2019, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the main robotic arm on the Mars 2020 rover. (A smaller arm to handle Mars samples will be installed inside the rover … Continue reading →

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NASA selects partners for Mars 2020 ‘Name the Rover’ contest, seeks judges

Posted on June 27, 2019 by rburnham

NASA has selected two partner organizations to run a nationwide contest giving K-12 students in U.S. schools a chance to make history by naming the Mars 2020 rover. An application to become contest judge also is now available online. Battelle … Continue reading →

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Mars 2020 rover gets its wheels

Posted on June 20, 2019 by rburnham

In this image, taken on June 13, 2019, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, install the starboard legs and wheels – otherwise known as the mobility suspension – on the Mars 2020 rover. They installed the port … Continue reading →

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Remote-sensing mast installed on 2020 rover

Posted on June 14, 2019 by rburnham

In this image, taken on June 5, 2019, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, take a moment after attaching the remote sensing mast to the Mars 2020 rover in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility’s High Bay 1 clean … Continue reading →

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Mars 2020 rover to blaze trail for humans

Posted on June 12, 2019 by rburnham

When a female astronaut first sets foot on the Moon in 2024, the historic moment will represent a step toward another NASA first: eventually putting humans on Mars. NASA’s latest robotic mission to the Red Planet, Mars 2020, aims to … Continue reading →

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