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Nasa Launches Giant Rover Into Space To Land On Mars - WATCH

Nasa

Huffington Post UK   First Posted: 26/11/11 17:16 GMT Updated: 28/11/11 11:42 GMT

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Nasa has launched a giant one-tonne rover nicknamed 'Curiosity' into space which is due to arrive on Mars in August next year.

The rover, which is tucked inside a capsule, departed from Florida at 10.02am (3.02pm GMT) on an Atlas 5 rocket. The machine will take eight-and-a-half months to reach its destination, touching down on 6 August 2012.

Once landed, the robot will travel Mars to scour soil and rocks for any signs of life. It will look for past or current environments on the Red Planet capable of supporting microbial life.

Nasa expected a communication from the spacecraft around an hour after the machine took off. Experts will then be able to tell if the the machine is still intact and survived the launch. The Atlas capsule flight, travelling at 10km/s, lasted around 45 minutes, after which it ejected the Curiosity rover towards the Martian planet.

The rover is estimated to land at a deep depression on Mars called Gale Crater, which according to the BBC, contains a central mountain rising 5km above the plain. The site was chosen due to previous pictures of sediments which would have been deposited by large volumes of water.

The rover, also known as Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is part of a $2.5bn (£1.6bn) two-year mission to study rocks, soils and atmosphere in the crater.

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Standing atop a payload transporter, the Atlas V rocket payload fairing containing NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft rolls out of the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning the move to Space Launch Complex 41.
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Nasa has launched a giant one-tonne rover nicknamed 'Curiosity' into space which is due to arrive on Mars in August next year. The rover, which is tucked inside a capsule, departed from Florida at ...
Nasa has launched a giant one-tonne rover nicknamed 'Curiosity' into space which is due to arrive on Mars in August next year. The rover, which is tucked inside a capsule, departed from Florida at ...
 
 
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glynntex
16 Fans
12:52 AM on 11/28/2011
Imagine. A globe full of Kelly Brooks.
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REVLAC
51 Fans
08:32 PM on 11/27/2011
If it finds any life, program it to pass on the message were all broke down on Earth, and could they send the rover back for £2.5 billion scrap value? and any other debris we've been sending. Care of DelBoy Enterprises.
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indlovubill
31 Fans
11:46 AM on 11/27/2011
I was rather hoping they would send world renowned scientist Richard Dawkins on the mission, unfortunately there wasn't sufficient room in the capsule for His ego.
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steve jm
0 Fans
11:06 AM on 11/27/2011
Glad they can keep wasting the money, its about time they sorted this planet out.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ramkshrestha
Welcome to Nepal - the birthplace of Buddha
232 Fans
 
11:43 PM on 11/26/2011
Really giant one
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Mazaluk
6 Fans
11:08 PM on 11/26/2011
May as well - there is precious little here on earth and none at all in the Guardian!
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nicholspongo
23 Fans
09:16 PM on 11/26/2011
The polititions are hoping they have found a whole new planet to rip off and mess up if there is any chance of finding life to exploit!!
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Bobcat22
4 Fans
06:17 PM on 11/26/2011
I'm not sure what past or present life on mars will prove, given that mars may have been seeded with microbial life from earth just as easily as earth may have been from mars. Any life found in our solar system, proves nothing, even if it's evolved to survive in extreme environments and exotic, it still is'nt proof life is created with relative ease.
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NoMercy
Member Since October 2005
1739 Fans
06:22 PM on 11/26/2011
I think there's a feeling that life - a self-replicating and evolving bunch of chemicals - is inevitable under certain conditions. They want to find out if those conditions existed on Mars (highly likely), and if so, if life sprung up there as it did here.

Of course that depends on your definition of "life". Mine above doesn't specify that is has Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Sulfur and Phosphorus, as all life on Earth does. It could be that "exotic life" uses other basic elements to create self-replicating forms.
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indlovubill
31 Fans
11:54 AM on 11/27/2011
Assuming Newton's Laws are applicable to the rest of the Universe I think we'll find life on other planets is somewhat similar to life on Earth. Recent research at Imperial College London suggests evolution progresses in a well-ordered fashion, though certain eminent scientists seem to have a bit of a problem with that.
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mdsmith013
student of the world
66 Fans
 
08:51 PM on 11/26/2011
Isn't proving that life has existed elsewhere than Earth significant? Why do you care that it won't necessarily prove life is or is not created with relative ease?
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Bobcat22
4 Fans
07:06 AM on 11/27/2011
Indeed, proving life can take hold elsewhere is significant, but in our solar system it seems irrelevant due to the real possibility of panspermia among the planets. It could even be possible Venus seeded life on earth before its runaway greenhouse effect. What i would think to be a remarkable discovery, would be for astronomy to evolve to the point at which exoplanets around other stars can be detected and analysed for the presence of compounds which suggests life exists on them, i think money would be better spent on this endeavour, that is all.
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