New Mars rover

The biggest Mars rover yet, NASA's Curiosity, has arrived at its launch site for testing and assembly before launch at the end of this year as part of the Mars Science laboratory mission. Curiosity is the size of a small car and will use 10 science instruments to investigate the potential evolution and preservation of microbial life. The suite of instruments will include a pair of cameras to give colour stereo views of the landscape. Both cameras can record videos too. They also have spectroscopic capabilities, in visible and near-infrared ranges, which will help with mapping and selection of rocks for other examinations. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-191 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html It has been more than a year since any contact with NASA's Mars rover Spirit, despite a series of transmissions designed to awaken reestablish links. Spirit is now unlikely to be operable. The rover landed on 4 January 2004 for a mission planned to last three months. Some six years later, the rover became trapped in soft sand, unable to move on. More crucially, it was unable to direct its solar panels to face the Sun, at a time when martian winter was approaching. Meanwhile, Opportunity, the twin rover of the same vintage, is still going after having travelled some 30 km across Mars.