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NASA launching 'dream machine' to explore Mars
Source: Agencies |
November 23, 2011, Wednesday
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AS big as a car and as well-equipped as a laboratory, NASA's newest Mars rover blows away its predecessors in size and skill.
Nicknamed Curiosity and scheduled for launch on Saturday, the rover has a 7-foot (2-meter) arm tipped with a jackhammer and a laser to break through the Martian red rock. What really makes it stand out: It can analyze rocks and soil with unprecedented accuracy.
"This is a Mars scientist's dream machine," said NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Ashwin Vasavada, the deputy project scientist.
Once on the red planet, Curiosity will be on the lookout for organic, carbon-containing compounds. While the rover can't actually detect the presence of living organisms, scientists hope to learn from the US$2.5 billion, nuclear-powered mission whether Mars has - or ever had - what it takes to nurture microbial life.
Curiosity will be "the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.
Ten-feet long, 9-feet wide and 7-feet tall at its mast, Curiosity is about twice the size of previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, weighs 1 ton and is loaded with 10 science instruments. Its formal name: Mars Science Laboratory, or MSL.
The rover is scheduled to arrive at the mineral-rich Gale Crater next August, 8? months after embarking on the 354-million-mile (570-million kilometer) voyage aboard an Atlas V rocket.
Nicknamed Curiosity and scheduled for launch on Saturday, the rover has a 7-foot (2-meter) arm tipped with a jackhammer and a laser to break through the Martian red rock. What really makes it stand out: It can analyze rocks and soil with unprecedented accuracy.
"This is a Mars scientist's dream machine," said NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Ashwin Vasavada, the deputy project scientist.
Once on the red planet, Curiosity will be on the lookout for organic, carbon-containing compounds. While the rover can't actually detect the presence of living organisms, scientists hope to learn from the US$2.5 billion, nuclear-powered mission whether Mars has - or ever had - what it takes to nurture microbial life.
Curiosity will be "the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.
Ten-feet long, 9-feet wide and 7-feet tall at its mast, Curiosity is about twice the size of previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, weighs 1 ton and is loaded with 10 science instruments. Its formal name: Mars Science Laboratory, or MSL.
The rover is scheduled to arrive at the mineral-rich Gale Crater next August, 8? months after embarking on the 354-million-mile (570-million kilometer) voyage aboard an Atlas V rocket.
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