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11 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do

Posted by samzenpus on from the rover-4.0 dept.

TheNextCorner writes "NASA is getting set to launch its next Mars rover this week. The car-size Curiosity rover is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, slated to blast off Saturday (Nov. 26) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will employ 10 different science instruments to help it answer questions once it touches down on the Red Planet in August 2012."

2 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No terraforming? by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sure it can... it will just take a few billion years.

    One misplaced micro-organism and it could set off evolution on mars that will slowly terraform the planet over the next few billion years.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. It needs swarmbots. by blair1q · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It should have a cargo-hold full of Wall-E type devices that can scatter during the day and return home to charge at night.

    Give more than one scientist at a time a chance to drive.

    (And reduce the risk of total mission failure in case of a Walowitz incident.)