The 2020 Mars mission will feature a souped-up unmanned rover vehicle equipped with seven new instruments to detect signs of ancient microbial life in unexplored areas of the red planet.
Ken Farley, a scientist with the Mars 2020 project said: ”What we learn from the samples collected during this mission has the potential to address whether we’re alone in the universe.”
The successor to the 2012 Curiosity rover, which could launch in July or August 2020, will be equipped will also study the Mars terrain, above and below the surface as well as collect soil and rock samples.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is developing a new landing technology that will allow the rover to visit sites deemed too risky for Curiosity and shave miles off its journey.
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NASA has confirmed a new rover vehicle will search for ancient alien life on Mars
The space agency has successfully landed spacecraft on Mars seven times and is using the International Space Station to prepare for human missions to the moon and Mars.
The news comes as prolific UFO seeker Scott C Waring claims to have found some ruined steps and a sea shell in pictures the NASA Curiosity and Spirit rover droids.
In postings on his website ufosightingsdaily.com, he also claims to have found evidence of hieroglyphics and alien faces carved into rocks in some of the images.
NASA said this week the chances of finding any life on Mars were much slimmer now as streaks in high areas it thought were caused by surface water, were probably caused by sand.
Despite this, Mr Waring claims to have found in recent months scores of examples of living Earth-like creatures, fossils, other ruins, and even alien humanoids.
Discussing his latest findings on his website, he said: “So, the NASA camera takes a close up of an object on the rover and in the background they catch, yeah, you guessed it, three signs of life.
“Two of these signs are proof of intelligent life, enough to sculpt the faces of their culture into the stones.
“The third sign was of a lower creature, a sea shell nearby.
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The successor to the 2012 Curiosity rover, could be launched in July or August 2020
“Now I know that NASAs motto is ‘For the benefit of all’, but really?”
Just over two years ago NASA held a “historic press conference” with some of its top scientists to announce a startling discovery they felt could mean Mars may support the simplest forms of alien life.
A NASA press release at the time read: “New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
“Using an imaging spectrometer on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (space probe), researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet.
“These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons.
“They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.”
However, another team of scientists has now cast doubt on these findings, meaning Mars could be as barren as once thought.
NASA has released a new statement, which reads: “Dark features on Mars previously considered evidence for subsurface flowing of water are interpreted by new research as granular flows, where grains of sand and dust slip downhill to make dark streaks, rather than the ground being darkened by seeping water.
“Continuing examination of these still-perplexing seasonal dark streaks with a powerful camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) shows they exist only on slopes steep enough for dry grains to descend the way they do on faces of active dunes.
“The findings published today in Nature Geoscience argue against the presence of enough liquid water for microbial life to thrive at these sites.”
But there remains some mystery about the streaks.
The statement added: “Exactly how these numerous flows begin and gradually grow has not yet been explained.
“Authors of the report propose possibilities that include involvement of small amounts of water, indicated by detection of hydrated salts observed at some of the flow sites.”