Mars 2020 Landing Site:
Jezero Crater Flyover
This flyover was produced from
NASA images taken from orbit.
The blue circle indicates the
area the rover will likely land.
The arcing hills in the center,
about 1600 feet high,
and are the rim
of Jezero Crater.
The goal of Mars 2020
is to learn
whether life ever
existed on Mars.
It's too cold and dry
for life to exist
on the Martian surface today.
But after Jezero Crater formed
billions of years ago,
water filled it to
form a deep lake
about the same size
as Lake Tahoe.
Eventually, as Mars' climate
changed, Lake Jezero dried up.
And surface water
disappeared from the planet.
An ancient lake is a fantastic
place to pursue our goal
of looking for
possible Martian life.
On Earth, lakes are filled
with living creatures.
Evidence of that life is often
preserved in the mud and sand
deposited on the
bottom of the lake.
So we use the rover's
instruments to explore
the rocks of the
ancient lake bed.
Here we can see evidence
of the former lake.
A canyon cutting
through the crater rim
was carved by a river.
As the water entered
the lake it slowed
and dropped the sand
and mud it was carrying
to form the fan-shaped delta.
The white line is a path the
rover might follow
in its first two years,
called the prime mission.
During this period we use the
rover science instruments
to analyze the lake sediments.
After we explore the delta,
we hope to investigate the
shoreline of the former lake.
To get there we have to
traverse around
a sea of modern sand dunes.
From this perspective you
can see former shorelines
curving around a headland.
We can picture waves in Lake
Jezero beating on a sandy beach.
And finally we will press
on to the crater rim.
Jezero Crater formed when a
large object collided with Mars,
excavating rocks from deep
in the Martian crust,
exposing them in the
rim for us to study.
These rocks would have been hot
shortly after the impact
and may have hosted hot springs.
Deposits from these springs
would be another target
in our search for possible
ancient life on Mars.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute
of Technology
