Mars Rover

To Mars or bust! The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the most advanced Mars rover to date into space November 26 on a 352 million-mile journey to the Red Planet. Once it lands, in August 2012, Curiosity will help the U.S. space agency determine whether Mars is, or once was, habitable to microbial life. The car-sized craft has 10 high-tech instruments to dig, drill, and shoot lasers into rocks to study their chemical makeup. Its cutting-edge cameras can capture details smaller than the width of a human hair. Curiosity’s findings will help NASA prepare for an eventual human-led mission to Mars, perhaps in the mid-2030s.

“[Curiosity] will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars,”
NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr. says.
“And while it advances science, we’ll be 5 working on the capabilities for a human mission to the Red Planet.”