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where will curiosity go first presented

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by science at nasa

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by now it's old news that nasa's new

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mars rover curiosity is resting safely

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on the surface of the red planet after a

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daredevil landing that had the nation

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holding its breath

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now mission scientists are anxious to

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start moving

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with such a sweet set of wheels at their

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disposal and the open road before them

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just where will they go first

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we won't have to travel far for

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excitement says project scientist john

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gratzinger we landed in the best

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possible place within the landing

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ellipse the bottom of an alluvial fan

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an alluvial fan is a pattern of

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sedimentary rocks dirt and sand

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deposited by flowing water

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in this case perhaps an ancient martian

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river

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since life as we know it requires liquid

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water this is an excellent first place

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to search for clues of a mars that was

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once hospitable to life

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the alluvial fan indicates that water

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flowed across the surface so we'll head

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downhill to where water might have

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collected we'll be looking for minerals

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like salts that might tell us where

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water has been

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it's kind of like a scavenger hunt with

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minerals as clues

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after that gratzinger says it's full

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speed ahead to the base of mount sharp a

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5 000 meter tall mountain that holds

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within its ancient layers possible clues

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to life on the red planet

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we'll have to make a deal with ourselves

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not to stop too often along the way

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mount sharp is the reason we chose this

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landing site so we need to hightail it

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on over there

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deputy program manager richard cook

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describes the temptation to stop along

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the way

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it'll be like taking a family vacation

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but instead of the family you have 400

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scientists who want to stop and look at

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every site

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curiosity is bristling with instruments

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custom made to look for the chemical

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building blocks of life

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a laser on curiosity's mast can take aim

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at interesting rocks and vaporize small

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spots on them from up to seven meters

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away

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the microblasts produce plasma clouds

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and the scientists can examine the light

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reflected off of these clouds to learn

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what the rocks are made of

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the mast also sports a high resolution

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camera called mast cam which has already

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begun observing and photographing the

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rover's surroundings

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the rover's robotic arm wields its own

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array of instruments the alpha particle

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x-ray spectrometer will measure the

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abundance of chemical elements in the

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dust soils rocks and samples the rover

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gathers

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the mars hand lens imager acts like a

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geologist's magnifying lens that can

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take its own color photos

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ultimately samples will be delivered to

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a pair of on-board laboratory

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instruments

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one of them sam short for sample

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analysis at mars will explore the red

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planet by sniffing the air bird dog

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style

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it has vents for sniffing the atmosphere

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and detecting gases like methane

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sam can also sniff the gases released by

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rock or soil samples it heats in its own

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oven

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can 400 scientists gripped by the thrill

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of the greatest family vacation ever

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really rushed to their destination

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without stopping to savor every site

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gratzinger makes just one guarantee

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in the coming months and years curiosity

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will tell us an incredible story

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for more postcards from curiosity as it