Five Things About NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover

SPACE WATCH
NASA – Mars Science Laboratory, aka Curiosity, is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, a long-term program of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in late 2011, and arrive at an intriguing region of Mars in August 2012. The goal of Curiosity, a rolling laboratory, is to assess whether Mars ever had an environment capable of supporting microbial life and conditions favorable for preserving clues about life, if it existed.

A nuclear battery will enable Curiosity to operate year-round and farther from the equator than would be possible with only solar power. more> http://tinyurl.com/37db5pu

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