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the hope is that we land there and we

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can basically unlock the secrets of an

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environment that existed a few billion

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years ago on Mars that was potentially a

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Mars has beckoned to earthbound

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observers for centuries seeming to

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appeal to astronomers to find out the

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secrets of the lone bright red dot among

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all the bright white stars in the

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nighttime sky those answers came

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sparingly but as technology advanced on

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earth astronomers were provided new

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tools to get better and better looks at

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the planet closest to Earth in terms of

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distance and makeup NASA put a wheeled

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robot on Mars for the first time in July

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1997 about the size of a skateboard and

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weighing 23 pounds the Sojourner showed

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Earth unprecedented views of the Red

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Planet has a rolled over the surface for

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three months all within 500 metres of

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its base station now NASA is on the

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verge of launching another Rover to

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Earth's nearest planetary neighbor when

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it is nearly 1,000 times heavier than

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Sojourner and packing a mobile

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laboratory designed to look closely at

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what the planet is made of the rover is

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called the Mars Science Laboratory or

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MSL also known as curiosity and its

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results may answer one of the great

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questions of modern science Mars and

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Earth were made at about the same time

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and yet they've had very different

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evolutionary pathways we seem to be

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verdant and full of life and Mars is

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quite cryptic so we'd like to understand

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a little bit about the past of Mars in

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fact we'd specifically like to know

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whether or not Mars has ever been

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habitable perhaps in some distant time

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perhaps now beneath the surface when it

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comes to Mars history has shown mission

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planners they cannot take any aspect of

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the launched flight or landing for

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granted NASA the Russians and Soviets

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and the European Space Agency all lost

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missions to the red planet at one time

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or other it is tough to land on Mars

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sometimes it's even tough to orbit Mars

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so Mars is difficult anytime you're

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and you're making that transition from

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not only orbiting and taking pictures

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but add the complexity of slowing

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yourself down putting a target on that

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planet and landing there that's awesome

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launches to Mars also come with a strict

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time limit when the planets are aligned

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correctly to allow a flight for MSL we

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only get an opportunity every 24 to 26

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months if you miss it you have to wait

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curiosity is to begin its flight to Mars

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packed inside the nose cone of an Atlas

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5 rocket will fly through space for nine

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months before beginning its work on the

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surface in August 2012

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like every mission of Mars this one

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carries the most advanced tools

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available to conduct experiments on its

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own millions of miles from Earth and

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then the real new thing for this Rover

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is the ability to actually drill in to

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rocks on Mars collect powder from those

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rocks and deliver that powder to two

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relatively large analytical chemistry

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laboratories that are located inside the

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rover itself so we deliver that powder

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and we can uniquely determine its

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mineralogy what minerals are present as

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well as what chemical elements are

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present and this will really give the

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scientists the core information they

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need to figure out whether Mars was a

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habitable environment though Rover is

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essentially like a geologist and a

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self-contained laboratory and the

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capabilities that exist are probably the

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next best thing to sending a human

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astronaut to do the same job he will

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also be back remarkable views from the

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surface using state-of-the-art cameras

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including 3d lenses this is a vehicle on

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Mars cruising around

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drilling into rocks chipping away at

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stuff to see what that planets made out

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of and even if it didn't do that if it

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just cruised around Mars and took

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pictures that the value and that is

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tremendous curiosity is not headed to

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just anywhere the Red Planet scientist

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spent years searching for the best place

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to land the rover somewhere that had the

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best chance to show the true past and

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present of Mars that place is called

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Gale Crater a three mile high mountain

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stands in the center of the crater and

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curiosity will explore the sediments

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that have built up there and hopes that

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the soil will complete parts of the

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Martian puzzle and what special about

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Gale is has the thickest package of

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sediment that we've been able to

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identify on Mars so it represents a lot

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of time and hopefully we'll get some

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idea about what has happened over time

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if Mars was ever home to vast lakes and

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flowing rivers which data from other

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spacecraft suggests then the rocks and

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minerals at Gale Crater could reveal

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unimaginable Ana Terry neighbor they

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suggest in a tantalizing way that

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perhaps they could have been deposited

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underwater and of course we associate

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water often with the possibility the

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potential for habitability it's an

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ambitious mission and the robot designed

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to pull it off is unlike any planetary

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Rovers devised so far my first thought

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and I won't lie was Wow it's a very

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impressive spacecraft the rover itself

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is much larger than anything that we've

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set up before but it's a very very very

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impressive spacecraft and we're looking

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forward to some great science coming out

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of the MS

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we couldn't use airbags as time because

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of the weight of curiosity so we went

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back to using Rockets but the novel

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design is this little rocket jetpack

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that that flies the rover down and then

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lowers the rover down on a tether lands

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it on the ground and then that rocket

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jetpack flies off and we're done with it

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that leaves the rover ready to Rove

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around on its wheels and explore Mars

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relying on solar cells was ruled

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insufficient for a mission as ambitious

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as the Mars Science Laboratory simply

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put they did not provide enough

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electricity for a year-round mission nor

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would they produce enough power for the

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10 instruments on the rover some of

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which have to operate at the same time

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to fulfill their research goals the

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rover may cover 12 miles or more during

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its 23 month mission the goal that

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requires a steady amount of power so the

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Department of Energy built for NASA a

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nuclear-powered electrical system

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instead called a multi-mission

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radioisotope thermoelectric generator or

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in them RTG it has no moving parts but

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converts heat from a small core of

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plutonium into about 110 watts of

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electricity around-the-clock and all

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year it's the same power source that

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enables probes to work in deep space on

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missions such as Galileo's examination

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of Jupiter Cassini's unprecedented look

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at Saturn and the New Horizons mission

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to Pluto and the farthest boundary of

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the solar system it was also used on the

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surface of Mars by the Viking landers in

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1976 NASA also takes extra precautions

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because of the power supply including

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working with other federal agencies to

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ensure its safety on earth and during

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looking up Mars through a telescope over

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the decades astronomers have wondered

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what secrets the planet conceals even

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looking at the surface doesn't tell the

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whole story which is why scientists have

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been eager to dig deeper every time they

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get a chance those folks that actually

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had a hand on role in building this

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thing there's some separation anxiety

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I'd bet you but now the next phase is

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hey I get to drive this thing or I get

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to used a hammer drill on something so

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that aspect of it is great I've been

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working on Mars Science Laboratory for

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seven years and I'm extremely excited

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that we're getting ready to launch 20

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years from now I think they'll look back

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and consider this a true landmark

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mission a great stepping stone for human

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exploration beyond Earth orbit and it

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will certainly be one for the history