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The New Mars Rover Has More Cameras Than Any Before It

NASA unveiled a detailed design of its new rover, which is expected to launch in July or August 2020.

By: Lindsey Pulse

Posted at 12:03 PM, Nov 02, 2017

and last updated 2017-11-02 12:03:30-04

NASA's 2020 Mars rover will have more "eyes" than any rover before it.

NASA unveiled a detailed design for its newest rover, and it'll have 23 cameras. To put that in perspective, the Spirit and Opportunity rovers each have 10 cameras, and the Curiosity has 17.

But it's not just about the number of cameras — many are better quality.

The new rover's engineering cameras will be able to take 20-megapixel color images. That's far more detailed than the 1-megapixel black and white images captured by the Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity engineering cameras.

Some of the new rover cameras will also have improved 3-D imaging capabilities.

Of course, the updated hardware comes with some challenges. Better imaging means there's more data to transmit through space.

Luckily, NASA says rover cameras have gotten better at compression.

The 2020 Mars rover is expected to launch in July or August of that year. The rover will look for habitable areas and signs of past microbial life and test oxygen in the atmosphere.