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Mars Rover Curiosity: The Red Planet's Next Explorer
After traveling 8 and a half months and 352 million miles, NASA's most technically advanced rover ever lands on the Red Planet early overnight Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012.
- This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface. ChemCam fires laser pulses at a target and views the resulting spark with a telescope and spectrometers to identify chemical elements. The laser is actually in an invisible infrared wavelength, but is shown here as visible red light for purposes of illustration.read moreNASA/JPL-CaltechShare
- The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission logo takes shape as technicians install it on the exterior of an Atlas V rocket's payload fairing inside the Payload Hazardous Processing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Tucked inside the fairing is the compact car-sized rover, Curiosity.read moreNASA/Jim GrossmannShare
- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft during its cruise phase between launch and final approach to Mars. The spacecraft includes a disc-shaped cruise stage (on the left) attached to the aeroshell. The spacecraft's rover (Curiosity) and descent stage are tucked inside the aeroshell.read moreNASA/JPL-CaltechShare
- This is an artist's concept of NASA's Curiosity rover tucked inside the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's backshell while the spacecraft is descending on a parachute toward Mars. The parachute is attached to the top of the backshell. In the scene depicted here, the spacecraft's heat shield has already been jettisoned.read moreNASA/JPL-CaltechShare
- The rover's head or mast rises to about 7 feet above ground level, about as tall as a basketball player. It supports two remote-sensing instruments: One for stereo color viewing of surrounding terrain and material collected by the arm and a laser that vaporizes material from rocks up to about 30 feet away to determines their composition.read moreNASA/JPL-CaltechShare
- NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, drives up a ramp during a test at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., on Sept. 10, 2010. The rover, like its smaller predecessors already on Mars, uses a rocker bogie suspension system to drive over uneven ground. Technicians and engineers in clean room garb watch the test drive carefully inside JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility.read moreNASA/JPL-CaltechShare
- Published24 Images
Mars Rover Curiosity: The Red Planet's Next Explorer
After traveling 8 and a half months and 352 million miles, NASA's most technically advanced rover ever lands on the Red Planet early overnight Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012.
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- Mars Rover Curiosity: The Red Planet's Next Explorer
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