Mars 2020 With Sample Tubes (Artist's Concept)

NASA's Mars 2020 rover will store rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future missions to retrieve, as seen in this illustration.

The Mars 2020 rover, scheduled to launch in July 2020, represents the first leg of humanity's first planned round trip to another planet. NASA and the European Space Agency are solidifying concepts for a Mars sample return mission.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California is building and will manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.