New Rover to Mars
A new Mars rover named Curiosity lifted off for the red planet atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida on November 26. The rover’s mission is to answer one of the most exciting questions in planetary science–whether Mars is, or ever has been, capable of supporting microbial life. The rover is scheduled to land on Mars in August 2012, after spending 8 ½ months traveling some 354 million miles (570 million kilometers) through space.
A channel on Mars that may have been carved by flowing water appears in this photograph from the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. Images taken by the orbiter showed evidence of water on Mars both now and in the planet's past. Photo courtesy European Space Agency.
Officially named the Mars Science Laboratory, the car-sized rover carries a scientific payload about 10 times as massive as those carried by NASA’s three previous Mars rovers. Curiosity, which has been described as a self-contained geology laboratory, holds eight sophisticated instruments powered by a nuclear generator. Two of the instruments were provided by Spain and Russia. Unlike earlier rovers, Curiosity will be able to gather samples of rock and soil, process them, and then distribute them to on-board instruments. The rover is set to land in Gale Crater, near the foot of a 3-mile- (5-kilometer-) high mountain whose lower layers contain minerals that formed in water.
Scientists are anticipating the complex process of getting Curiosity onto the Martian surface as “six minutes of terror.” When Curiosity is about 1 mile (1.7 kilometers) above the surface, a rocket-powered platform called the “sky crane” will drop from the protective shell holding the rover. After flying Curiosity to Gale Crater, the sky crane will lower the rover by tether.
Additional World Book articles:
- Mars Pathfinder
- Phoenix [spacecraft]
- Space exploration (Probes to Mars)
- The Search for Water on Mars (a Special Report)
