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Credit & Copyright: NASA
Explanation:
Next stop: Mars.
This past weekend the
Mars Science Laboratory carrying
the Curiosity Rover
blasted off
for the red planet atop an
Atlas V rocket from
Cape Canaveral,
Florida,
USA, as
pictured above.
At five times the size of the Opportunity rover
currently operating on Mars,
Curiosity is like a
strange little car with six small wheels, a head-like camera mast, a rock crusher,
a long robotic arm, and a plutonium power source.
Curiosity is scheduled to
land on Mars next August and start a two year mission to explore
Gale crater, to help
determine whether Mars could ever have
supported life, and to help determine how
humans might one day visit
Earth's planetary neighbor.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mars - Martian Rover - launch
Publications with words: Mars - Martian Rover - launch
See also:
- APOD: 2025 February 17 Á SpaceX Rocket Launch Plume over California
- Full Moon, Full Mars
- APOD: 2025 January 15 Á Wolf Moon Engulfs Mars
- APOD: 2025 January 5 Á Rocket Launch as Seen from the International Space Station
- APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
- APOD: 2024 November 10 Á Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
- APOD: 2024 September 9 Á Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos