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Mars Missions
Curiosity's primary task will be to collect data for scientists to determine whether ancient Mars supported life. Its cousin, "Opportunity," continues to send never-before-seen photographs from the red planet. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said findings from the two rovers "will play a key role in making possible future human missions to Mars." Opportunity and its twin, the now-defunct "Spirit," began their Mars mission in 2004. Scientists expect the MSL to complete its own assignment in two years, but hope it will exceed its potential just as the previous rovers did.
Robotics Technology
The car-sized Curiosity rover is longer and heavier than past Mars rovers, which more closely resemble golf carts. It's also equipped with more scientific instruments because it's an analyzer, unlike Opportunity and Spirit, which are more of observers. Curiosity will be able to travel at a much greater range, with a bigger and stronger robotic arm for collecting and surveying alien rocks. It will draw heat and electric power from a radioisotope source, in contrast to the two previous rovers, which have had issues with their multi-panel solar arrays.
Gale Crater
It took five years and more than 100 scientists to pick the MSL's ideal landing site from a list of 30 candidates. The winner: the northern portion of Gale Crater. The 154-kilometer crater sits on a very low elevation. At its center is a mountain of rocks that's five kilometers high, with a base rich in clays and sulfate salts. These essential minerals, which form in wet conditions, may hold clues as to why Mars changed from a hospitable environment to a hostile territory. "We believe that at Gale Crater, we have located that boundary where life may have sprung up and where it may have been extinguished. That's why we're going there," geologist Jack Mustard of Brown University explained.
New Chapter
The announcement of the landing site opens a new chapter in space exploration. In July 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis made its final landing at the Kennedy Space Center, closing the curtains on NASA's decades-old shuttle program. Atlantis and two other space shuttles are now retired and will be turned over to museums. "Things evolve, but what remains constant is the urge...to reach out beyond where we are and understand our surroundings and our place in it," NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati said.