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A Tale of Two Rovers: How does Mars 2020 compare to Curiosity?
NASA’s next Mars rover is almost ready to launch. Engineers recently took it for a test spin, before shipping it off to its Cape Canaveral launch site. The six-wheeled rover will blast off this July; once it arrives on Mars, it will scour the red planet for signs of ancient life.
The Mars 2020 rover, which should receive a name very soon, is nearly identical in appearance to its predecessor, the Curiosity rover. After landing on Mars in 2012, Curiosity has spent its time exploring Gale Crater, a 96-mile-wide crater.
It was once the site of an ancient lake and stream system; scientists believe that it may have been able to support life. However, like the rest of the planet’s surface, the area is dry today.
The twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars in 2004 with one major goal: to follow the water. Right out of the gate, the duo proved that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. But what happened to it?
To answer that question, NASA launched the supersized Curiosity rover to learn more. Since landing in 2012, Curiosity discovered that Gale Crater was once home to an ancient lake billions of years ago and that it could have supported microbial life. The rover is still scouring the crater, hunting for clues as it climbs Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) peak within the crater — that scientists believe was partially formed by water.
3,760 miles (6,050 kilometers) away, Mars 2020 will explore Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient delta. Here the rover will take the next scientific step: It will look for actual signs of past life, called biosignatures, by analyzing samples of rocks and soil. It will also bag up samples that could be retrieved by future missions and eventually returned to Earth for more in-depth analysis.
Mars 2020 is essentially a souped-up version of the Curiosity rover, but charged with searching for signs of life and collecting samples for eventual return to Earth. The new rover is estimated to cost $1.9 billion dollars and will carry a suite of 7 specialized instruments that will science the hell out of Mars.
But first the rover has to land on Mars. To do so, it must survive a harrowing process known as entry, descent, and landing (aka seven minutes of terror).
To the untrained eye, Mars 2020 looks like an identical copy of Curiosity, but if you look closely, you can tell that the two apart. Building a rover from scratch is extremely difficult and expensive. The folks at NASA built on the success of Curiosity and added new capabilities. A process that enabled more science at a reduced cost.
The beefier Mars 2020 rover is about 280 lbs. (127 kilograms) heavier than its counterpart. That’s because it carries different tools, like a larger drill. This enables the new rover to drill into rocks, extracting rock cores rather than just smashing them.
We all love the epic robot selfies and stunning views of Martian landscapes so of course the new rover will be packing multiple cameras. Curiosity is equipped with 17 cameras; by comparison, Mars 2020 will have 23 that will shoot mostly in color. Additionally, Mars 2020’s Mastcam-Z will film in high definition and be able to zoom.
Mars 2020 will also carry not one but two microphones on its journey so all of us back here on Earth can hear what Mars sounds like. The microphones will record the rover’s landing on Mars, as well as the Martian wind and will listen as the rover zaps scientific targets with its on board laser.
Another design improvement will be the wheels. Curiosity was equipped with aluminum wheels, which have been badly beaten up by the rugged Martian terrain. Sharp rocks have proved to be troublesome, with NASA modifying the rover’s driving plan to ensure Curiosity makes it through its mission. To avoid these kinds of issues, engineers made Mars 2020’s wheels more robust.
“Extensive testing in JPL’s Mars Yard has shown these treads better withstand the pressure from sharp rocks but work just as well on sand,” NASA officials said in a news release.
NASA plans to return to the moon and eventually send humans to Mars. To that end, the Mars 2020 rover will help pave the way for future missions. The rover will carry spacesuit samples to determine how they degrade over time, as well as a subsurface radar instrument that could potentially be used to find buried water ice.
Additionally, an oxygen generator will test technology that future astronauts could use to make their own rocket fuel from the Martian atmosphere.
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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
