NASA's curiosity rover, which will complete one year on the
red planet on august6, is now guiding designs for Future planetary missions.
since its historic and hair raising touchdown, the nearly one ton SUV-sized
rover has already achieved its main scientific goal of revealing that ancient
mars could have supported life, NASA said Pointing out that the curiosity
mission will eventually lead to a human landing on the red planet, NASA
administrator Charles Bolden stated:"wheel tracks now will lead to boot
prints later”. “Success of our curiosity-that dramatic touchdown a year ago and
the science findings since then-advance us towards further exploration,
including sending humans to an asteroid and mars”. He added.
NASA said curiosity has provided more than 190 gigabits of
data; sent back more than 36700 full images and 35000thumbnail images; fired
more than 75000 laser shots to investigate the composition of targets;
collected and analyzed sample material from two rocks; and driven more than
1.5km.Curiosity travelled 699 meters in the past four weeks since leaving a
group of locations where it worked for more than six months. The rover making
its way to the base Mount Sharp. Where it will investigate lower layers of a
mountain that rises nearly 5km from the flood of the crater. The mountain has
exposed geological layers, including ones identified by Mars orbiters as
originating in a wet environment. “We hope those layers preserve a broad
diversity of conditions that could have affected habitability “said project
scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
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