The current Mars rover that goes by the name Curiosity, landed on the red planet back in 2012, but already NASA is making plans for another voyage come the year 2020. A new voyage means a new Mars Rover, which also means another giant leap for mankind’s plan on creating a colony on Mars in the distant future.

Unsurprisingly, the new Mars Rover will look similar to Curiosity in many ways according to an artist render of the new robot. The main goal here with the new Mars Rover is to continue the search for past life on Mars, and possibly in hopes of coming across any form of life such as bacteria or micro organisms. In addition, NASA has no interest in just testing the red planet’s soil, the plan this time around is to bring back to earth up to 31 soil and rock sample.

The samples would help NASA and its scientists come up with ideas on how best mankind should approach putting humans on Mars. If this works out well, an astronaut on Mars could very well happen in our lifetime, sadly, it is highly likely we won’t be around to see a human colony placed on Mars with giant robots and laser canons.

It is not yet certain when in 2020 NASA plans launch the Mars Rover, as the agency is still in the process of creating robot. But whenever it comes, it will be another historical moment for mankind, one that should never be forgotten.

[via NASA]