Nasa is in the final phase of preparations to launch its car-sized robotic vehicle named Curiosity to Mars aboard an Atlas V rocket on 25 November 2011 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The robotic vehicle is also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and will carry a set of ten science instruments to investigate whether environmental conditions have ever been favourable for the development of microbial life and to preserve evidence of those conditions.
The $2.5bn, one-ton rover is scheduled to land on Mars in August 2012 and will examine the Gale crater during a mission spanning almost two years.
The rover is designed, developed and assembled at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the mission is managed by JPL for Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
