NASA:
Scheduled to launch late this year, NASA's next Mars rover,
Curiosity, will land at the foot of a mountain inside
the planet's Gale crater sometime in August 2012. “
Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important
science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for
human exploration to the Red Planet,” said NASA
administrator Charles Bolden. Researchers will use the rover's
tools to study whether the landing region had favorable
environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for
preserving clues about whether life ever existed. To choose the
site, more than 100 scientists considered the safety concerns
and scientific attractions of some 30 different
locations.
