Mars 2020 Collecting Sample (Artist's Concept)

In this illustration, NASA's Mars 2020 rover uses its drill to core a rock sample on Mars.

Scheduled to launch in July 2020, the Mars 2020 rover represents the first leg of humanity's first round trip to another planet. The rover will collect and store rock and soil samples on the planet's surface that future missions will retrieve and return to Earth. 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 NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.