NASA’s Mars 2020 robotic rover is nearly ready for launch after successfully completing its initial tests. This advanced machine is being prepared for a mission to explore the Martian surface next year.
The rover’s key objective will be to gather soil and rock samples from Mars, in hopes of uncovering evidence of ancient microbial life that may have existed billions of years ago.
Scientists also see the mission as a vital step toward making future human exploration of the red planet a reality.
