NASA has put many rovers on the Martian surface over the years, especially since exploring and understanding the Red Planet has become a top priority for the organization. Now, NASA is preparing to send a new rover up to Mars, and this particular machine will be armed with a variety of new instruments and gadgets that will supposedly allow it to conduct “unprecedented” new research on the planet.

According to a press released posted on NASA.gov, the new project, dubbed the “Mars 2020 rover,” could unlock more of the mysteries of the planet than ever before. For the voyage, NASA has carefully selected seven different instruments that it believes will help the rover break new ground. These items were selected from a crop of 58 different proposals, which came from all over the globe and represented the work of some of the brightest engineers and researchers on the planet. The selected instruments will be geared primarily toward assessing the habitability of Mars, as well as toward collecting geological data and searching for any signs of “ancient Martian life.”

The instruments selected for the 2020 rover include cameras, spectrometers, X-ray machines, and other visual aids that will help with navigation and other rover operations, as well as with conducting mineralogy readings of the Martian surface. The rover will also be armed with an experimental device meant to convert the carbon dioxide on Mars into oxygen; an environmental analyzer meant to take readings of temperature, wind speed, and other meteorological factors; and a radar imager that can supposedly penetrate the ground to provide geological readings of Mars’ subterranean structure.

“This technology demonstration will pave the way for more affordable human missions to Mars where oxygen is needed for life support and rocket propulsion,” said James Reuther, deputy associate administrator for programs for the Space Technology Mission Directorate. 

Ultimately, the goal of the rover and the rest of NASA’s “Mars Exploration Program” is to learn enough about the planet that a human trip to the planet becomes feasible. In the press release for the 2020 Mars rover, NASA stated that it was also in the process of developing human spaceflight technology capable of completing a round trip to and from the planet. In other words, the concept of putting a man on Mars could be nearing reality at some point in the next decade or so.