Curiosity Rover - The Mars Science Laboratory :-
Curiosity Rover is the fastest, largest and the most sophisticated rover sent to Mars till date. It is the first nuclear powered rover.The Curiosity rover will investigate the Gale Crater, named after the Austrlian astronomer Walter Fedrick Gale, to see if the site offers the potential of water. The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory which weighs one-ton will be lowered to the ground on a tether spooled out by a flying platform that works like a aerial crane.
Seven Minutes Of Terror:-
Seven Minutes is all it takes to determine the destiny of the most advanced space exploration robot ever built, when it finally lands on the red planet. It has taken nine years and more than $2.5 billion to set it on its mission to the red planet, the Mars.
Scientists will face a nervous period when Nasa's Mars Science Laboratory Rover called Curiosity begins its landing towards the surface of Mars at 13,200 miles per hour, which has been nicknamed as the "Seven Minutes Of Terror".
A new landing technology has been developed by Nasa to facilitate the safe landing of the Van-sized robot on to the Mars surface. The Rover will be lowered the last 20 feet to the ground from a hovering spacecraft called as "Sky Crane".
If this landing technology fails, then the Nasa's Mars mission of searching for life on the red planet will come to a halt for atleast a few years and could even permanently set back Nasa's plans to send human beings to the planet.
The careers of thousands of scientists from around the world who are expecting atleast two years of new information to pour in as the Curiosity Rover explores the Mars searching for signs of life, is now hanging in balance.
