This Is Where Mars 2020 Rover Is Heading - From This Picture, I Think You Can Guess Why

Get used to hearing the name “Jezero Crater.” It’s the landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. The 2020 rover is slated to launch in July 2020, and will land at Jezero Crater in February, 2021. It’s pretty easy to see why NASA chose Jezero Crater for the next rover in their Mars Exploration Program …

The Mars Exploration Program is designed to understand:

• the formation and early history of Mars.
• the history of geological processes and climate that have shaped Mars.
• the potential for Mars to have hosted life.
• how humans can explore Mars in the future.
• how Mars and Earth differ.

Water, of course, is central to life as far as we know. And we know that Mars used to be a much wetter place, with huge oceans and systems of rivers and lakes. We know this because landers have found minerals on the Martian surface that only form in the presence of water. We also know it because we can see water channels, ancient river beds, alluvial fans, and other things from orbit.

Jezero Crater is located on the edge of the Isidis Basin (or Isidis Planitia), a massive impact basin. In this MOLA (Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter) image, purple is low elevation and red is high elevation. Image Credit: By NASA / JPL / USGS – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74634265

Jezero Crater has been a scientific target for many years now. It was in the running to be MSL Curiosity’s landing site before Gale Crater was chosen. Now, Jezero Crater is back on the menu.

Jezero Crater is an ancient lake that formed inside an impact crater. Detailed study of the features of the lake led scientists to conclude that the lake is ancient and did not experience times when water went down. Due to its long lifespan as a lake, it’s possible that life may have developed in the lake. It’s possible, though not necessarily likely, that preserved signs of life are waiting to be discovered at Jezero Crater.

Jezero Crater is a paleolake. Water flowed in from two channels on the left of this image and then overflowed the crater wall on the right, into the snaking river channel. Image Credit: By NASA/Tim Goudge – https://news.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Goudge_Jezero_Basin.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74538298

One of the 2020 rover’s goals is to look for signs of ancient life and habitability, (though NASA says they don’t presume that Mars did harbour life), so Jezero Crater is a good place to search. But another goal is to look for minerals that form in the presence of water, which should be plentiful if Jezero was indeed a long-lived lake.

Jezero Crater on Mars is the landing site for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. This close-up image of the western edge of Jezero Crater combines an optical image from MRO’s Context Camera with data from CRISM, the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars. The Spectrometer data shows that sediments carried into the lake and deposited at the bottom contain clays and carbonates. Some of the carbonates indicate that the water was the correct pH for life. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Rover technology and the scientific instruments they can carry have come a long way. But they still have their limitations. A rover can never carry the same type of advanced laboratory equipment that scientists have access to here on Earth. For that reason, the 2020 rover has another objective: preparing samples.

The rover is tasked with collecting samples from Mars, then preparing them and leaving them for a future mission to collect and return to Earth. If this sounds ambitious, it is. But at some point, we need to get samples back to Earth.

Another objective of the 2020 rover is to demonstrate technology for further exploration of Mars. This includes an experiment to produce a small amount of oxygen from CO2. It’ll also try to locate a source of subsurface water. Obviously, the ability to get oxygen and water on Mars will aid human exploration enormously.

In this image from the Viking orbiter, Jezero Crater is in the lower right. Faintly visible is the overflow water channel on the right of the crater. Image Credit: By NASA – en:Image:Syrtis Major MC-13.jpg – Cropped – Original image produced using images from the Viking Orbiter 1 Visual Imaging Subsystem – Camera A., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38774464

There are practical reasons for choosing Jezero Crater too. The rover needs a large enough area to land safely. Precision landing on Mars has come a long way, but the 2020 rover will use basically the same system the MSL curiosity did. But it still needs ample space to land, which Jezero provides. NASA would like to have a landing ellipse that is 20km x 25km.

A close-up of the Jezero Crater with the rover’s landing ellipse in yellow. Image Credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / Emily Lakdawalla

The 2020 rover has a planned mission duration of one year, but that’s modest. If the success of Spirit, Opportunity, and MSL is any indication, the 2020 rover could be busy for years. And that means it may complete its exploration of Jezero Crater and have time on its hands.

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