B3,+Petrallia,+Julian,+Mars+rover



=It's "really a rover on steroids,"= =NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science.=

=Will humans ever be able to live on Mars? Hopefully that question will be answered after the journey of Cureosity.=

=On November 26th Curiosity, NASA's new mars rover, blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas V rocket with the goal of reaching Mars. The rover is NASA's newest and largest rover to take flight. The goal of the flight is not to answer the question of "is there life on Mars" but rather is aimed at collecting data to aide with future missions to the red planet. After reaching Mars in 2012, Curiosity will spend about two years roaming, searching for essential factors for living things such as liquid water, key chemicals used by living organisms and an energy source.=

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=Cureosity fun facts:= =-Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as the older Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity.= =-Its 10 science instruments weigh 15 times as much as its predecessors' science payloads.= =-The rover has a mast that can extend to 7 feet (2.1 meters) to hoist a high-definition imaging system.= =-A 7-foot-long robot arm will hold instruments for soil analysis.= =-Curiosity can gather rocks and soil to process inside its lab.= =-The rover has tools to look for water beneath the surface, to monitor the weather and to measure natural radiation.= =-On the rover is a plaque with the signatures of both President Barack Obama and Vice president Joe Biden.= =-Cureosity cost 2.5 Billion dollars to make.= =-Cureosity is nuclear powered.= =The rover weighs one ton.=

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