PASADENA, CALIFORNIA — As part of NASA's preparation for next year's Mars mission, the Mars 2020 rover took its first driving test at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California on December 17.<br /><br />The rover was able to roll forward, backward and perform a pirouette in the laboratory over a period of 10 hours, according to NASA. <br /><br />The Mars 2020 rover was also able to drive over small ramps in the lab.<br /><br />The rover is equipped with an autonomous navigation system, which uses high-resolution navigation cameras and image processing software. Its wheels have been redesigned for added durability.<br /><br />NASA says the technology will allow to rover to drive roughly 200 meters per Martian day. The Mars 2020 rover will also carry a radar imager to gather data about Mars' surface.<br /><br />The rover will be launched in July or August of 2020. It is scheduled to land on Mars' Jerozo Crater on February of 2021.<br /><br />The Mars mission is part of a larger project that includes lunar missions to prepare humans to eventually explore the red planet.
