Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2020

44 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2020 ASTRONAUTICS I n this image of the Jezero crater, the landing site of the NASA Mars 2020 mission, the lightest colors represent a greater elevation. The oval indi- cates the landing ellipse, where the rover will touch the Martian soil. [NASA/JPL-Caltech] I n this image of Jezero Crater, color has been added to highlight minerals. The green color represents minerals called carbonates, which are especially good at preserving fossilized life on Earth. [NASA/JPL-Caltech] onboard the MRO. The attentions of the se- lectors have focused on the weak spectral To take full advantage of the new rover’s capabilities, part of the mission team has spent the last five years searching for the ideal landing site, the one that more than any other may have previously been an optimal habitat for possible forms of elementary life. The selection was carried out by analyzing the data recorded by the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Im- aging Spectrometers for Mars) instrument