NASA's new rover will search for farmland on Mars

NASA's new rover will search for farmland on Mars
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

When NASA's 2020 rover touches down on Mars, it will be looking for something a little more typical than tiny green Martians.

The space agency said this week that the future rover's main purpose will be researching whether the planet could eventually sustain human life, CNN reports. That means the 2020 rover will perform basic tasks such as collecting soil samples, and also execute more cutting-edge projects, such as photographing the planet's surface in 3D, panoramic images, so NASA can study whether Mars' chemical makeup is conducive to farming.

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Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.