Nasa's Curiosity rover on Mars

 The US space agency NASA has landed a huge new robot rover on Mars.The one-tonne vehicle, known as Curiosity landed in a deep crater near the planets equator on August 6, 2012. Curiosity on a mission of at least two years to look for evidence that Mars may once have supported life.

 A signal confirming the rover was on the ground safely was relayed to Earth via Nasa Odyssey satellite, which is in orbit around the Red Planet. Picture from Curiosity rover The first pictures from the surface began to be fed back immediately; high-resolution images will come later. 
  Curiosity has been sent to investigate the central mountain inside Gale Crater that is more than 5km high. It will climb the rise, and, as it does so, study rocks that were laid down billions of years ago in the presence of liquid water. The vehicle will be looking for evidence that past environments could have favoured microbial life. Initially, the rover is funded for two years of operations. But many expect this mission to roll and roll for perhaps a decade or more. This is the fourth rover Nasa has put on Mars, but its scale and sophistication dwarf all previous projects.Its biggest instrument alone is nearly four times the mass of the very first robot rover deployed on the planet back in 1997. Engineers and scientists who have worked on this Curiosity project for the best part of 10 years punched the air and hugged each other.

 Mars Curiosity rover features

 1.Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
 2.This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
 3. If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for close-up investigation. These include a microscope
 4.Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-tech analysis labs inside the rover body
 5.The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return commands tell the rover where it should drive next

 Curiosity - Mars Science Laboratory

 * Mission goal is to determine whether Mars  has ever had the conditions to support life
* Project costed at $2.5bn; will see initial surface operations lasting two Earth years
* Onboard plutonium generators will deliver heat and electricity for at least 14 years
* 75kg science payload more than 10 times as massive as those of earlier US Mars rovers
* Equipped with tools to brush and drill into rocks, to scoop up, sort and sieve samples
* Variety of analytical techniques to discern chemistry in rocks, soil and atmosphere
* Will try to make first definitive identification of organic (carbon rich) compounds
* Even carries a laser to zap rocks; beam will identify atomic elements in rocks
* Discover more about the planets

  Mars

  Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. Named after the Roman god of war , Mars , it is often described as the "Red Planet" as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the volcanoes, valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth . The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye. Its apparent magnitude, which is only surpassed by Jupiter, Venus , the Moon, and the Sun. Optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 km (186 miles) across when Earth and Mars are closest 

 Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, which are small and irregularly shaped. These may be captured asteroids , similar to 5261 Eureka, a Martian trojan asteroid. The composition of Mars: 95.32% carbon dioxide , 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, 0.13% oxygen, 0.08% carbon monoxide, 210 ppm water vapor, 100 ppm nitric oxide,15 ppm molecular hydrogen 
  Until the first successful flyby of Mars occurred in 1965, by Mariner 4, many speculated about the presence of liquid water on the planet's surface. In 2005, radar data revealed the presence of large quantities of water ice at the poles,  and at mid-latitudes. The Mars rover Spirit  sampled chemical compounds containing water molecules in March 2007. The Phoenix  lander sampled water ice in shallow Martian soil on July 31, 2008.  

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