NASA scientists said Friday they were testing a prototype of a robot the US space agency hopes to send to Mars in 2020 in Chile’s Atacama desert.<\/p>\n
NASA hopes to use this kind of rover to explore life-friendly sites found by Curiosity, the rover already searching for signs of life on Mars. It has been there since last August.<\/p>\n
The researchers say the desert, the driest spot on Earth, mimics the conditions of the Red Planet, and the agency has used it in the past to test space-bound equipment.<\/p>\n
The robot, controlled remotely from the US, will continue testing through Sunday.<\/p>\n
The solar-powered 771-kilogram (1,700-pound) machine is equipped with cameras and a drill able to dig up to a meter (three feet) deep.<\/p>\n
It is testing its sensors, its cameras, its ability to store energy, as it searches for evidence of microbial life in the desert.<\/p>\n
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