2017 will be the year of searching for the right spot to where Mars rover will land on 2020, as the list of sites will be restricted to the most viable of them all. NASA scientists for the Mars Exploration Program have chosen sites based on its previous support systems from its past mission. They are at most considering an area with ample supply of liquid water which supports life when the rover arrives on 2020.

In a recent report from The Space Reporter, NASA is also into discussing the best sites for a rover landing when the crewed mission happens on 2030. All these are happening along the busy work schedules of NASA scientists as the shortlisted landing sites were revealed by lead scientist Michael Meyer. As discussed at the American Geophysical Union meeting held in San Francisco, there were initially 54 possible landing sites for Mars rover 2020, but the list was limited to eight only in August 2015.

As these sites were already pre-selected from various mars mission, certain factors affect the choice of a landing site. This includes a spot which can support life and an area along a shoreline which has a water supply.

Various efforts from the scientific community have also been collaborating with NASA on the selection of landing sites. Among them were High school student Alex Longo and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Bethany Ehlmann, who is a member of both the Curiosity rover and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. According to a report from Space, the February 2017 workshop will then include more details on the potential landing sites by using a high-resolution imaging from the reconnaissance or MRO.

Although the crewed missions are still 20 years away, NASA is getting ready for that proposition. The same workshop has been conducted in 2015 wherein 47 sites for human landing missions are selected for further discussion. From the proposed semi-permanent bases, astronauts will then explore within a 60-mile (100 kilometers) radius.