NASA Unveils Manned Mars Rover Concept Vehicle
NASA has unveiled the concept vehicle for a manned Mars rover as mankind continues its quest to seek more information about planets outside of Earth.
The next-generation unmanned Mars rover will be deployed in 2020, and NASA previously revealed concept art for it through its official website.
"The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself," the statement read.
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The unmanned rover includes a drill that is able to gather core samples from the Red Planet. This drill can collect these samples from both rocks and soils. It can even place them aside for future use, as NASA outlined a planned mission to get the samples back to Earth at a later time.
And while this unmanned Mars rover is definitely exciting, CBS News was able to get a look at the concept for a manned vehicle. Developed by the Parker brothers, Shanon and Marc, the manned Mars rover looks rather sleek and futuristic. This, of course, does not come as a surprise since the Parker brothers come with a Hollywood background.
The vehicle reportedly measures 11 feet tall, 24 feet long and 13 feet wide. Construction took less than five months, with everything being made in-house. "There is almost nothing on this vehicle that was not built in our shop. I mean, down to every little bracket and tab, nothing was ordered out of a catalog," Marc explained.
With some consultation from astronauts, the vehicle was designed with exploration and functionality in mind, though some parts of it was "just for it to look cool."
While the concept vehicle for a manned Mars rover definitely achieves the "cool" part, there are no plans to have it go to Mars. The vehicle was merely created for educational purposes.
Man has yet to set foot on Mars, though U.S. astronaut Jon McBride argues that "the first man or woman on Mars is somewhere between 8 and 18 years old as we speak."
