{"id":13035,"date":"2019-08-01T00:12:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-31T16:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/mars-2020-rover-on-track-for-launch-next-july\/"},"modified":"2019-08-01T00:12:15","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T16:12:15","slug":"mars-2020-rover-on-track-for-launch-next-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/mars-2020-rover-on-track-for-launch-next-july\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars 2020 rover on track for launch next July"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In this image, taken July 19 in the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, the rover\u2019s 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm maneuvers its 88-pound (40-kilogram) sensor-laden turret as it moves from a deployed to a stowed configuration. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The launch of NASA\u2019s Mars 2020 rover is less than a year away, and the steady pace of work inside the craft\u2019s pristine assembly hall in California is keeping the mission on schedule for liftoff from Cape Canaveral next July, despite growing costs, according to mission managers.<\/p>\n

Based on the Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars, the Mars 2020 rover will weigh more than a ton when it heads for the Red Planet next year. Engineers at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will install the final components inside the robot in the next few weeks. Once completed, the rover will go through a series of functional and environmental tests to ensure it is ready for Mars.<\/p>\n

The plutonium-powered rover is scheduled for lift off July 17, 2020, from Cape Canaveral on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. While teams assemble the rover at JPL, engineers are also finalizing work on the mission\u2019s cruise and descent stages, which will protect the rover on its flight from Earth and through the Martian atmosphere for landing Feb. 18, 2021.<\/p>\n

Aside from a ceremonial team photo, Mars 2020 scientists and engineers treated this year\u2019s July 17 \u2014 marking one year before launch \u2014 like a regular work day, assuming one\u2019s job involves building an interplanetary robot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting very, very close (to finishing the rover),\u201d said Matt Wallace, the Mars 2020 mission\u2019s deputy project manager at JPL. \u201cI would say we are over 95 percent there, maybe even 98. We really just have a handful of things left.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re less than a year from launch, and we\u2019re just a handful of months from starting to deliver hardware to the Cape,\u201d said Jim Watzin, director of NASA\u2019s Mars exploration program, in a July 26 meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group.<\/p>\n

In June, workers inside the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at JPL installed the Mars 2020 rover\u2019s remote sensing mast, six wheels and the 7-foot-long (2.1-meter) robotic arm. Crews at JPL also added the rover\u2019s scientific instruments to the vehicle, many of which are directly mounted to the remote sensing mast, which will raise up to a height of more than 7 feet (2.2 meters) after landing on Mars, or to the end of the robot arm.<\/p>\n

The engineering work on the Mars 2020 rover has been hastened by JPL\u2019s experience building the Curiosity rover.<\/p>\n

But the new rover features different instruments to search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars, adding fresh capabilities to the toolkit built for Curiosity. The Mars 2020 rover also carries an untried set of internal mechanisms to collect, store and seal rock core samples for return to Earth on a future mission, a new wheel design to avoid problems that plagued Curiosity, and a major upgrade known as terrain relative navigation to steer the rover\u2019s descent stage away from boulders, craters and other obstacles upon landing.<\/p>\n