CANADIAN SCIENTIST TO TAKE KEY ROLE IN MARS ROVER MISSION

The NASA Mars 2020 Rover is scheduled to launch this July, and a Canadian will take on an incredibly important role in the mission. Chris Herd is a planetary geologist and professor at the University of Alberta. He is one of only 10 people, as well as the only Canadian, to be chosen by NASA for a role as a returned sample scientist on the first-ever mission to bring Mars rock samples back to Earth. Once the rover makes landing on Feb. 18, 2021, it will be used to drill into rocks and collect rock samples on the red planet.