NASA’s CURIOSITY ROVER LANDS SAFELY ON THE RED PLANET

NASA’s Mars robotic explorer, Curiosity, has landed safely on Sunday, marking the beginning of its two-year investigation for answer to age-old question about whether Mars could ever have supported life.

According to NASA, Curiosity successfully landed in the Gale Crater at 10:32 p.m. Aug. 5, PDT, (1:32 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). Gale Crater was chosen as the landing site because there are signs that water was present over its history.

Curiosity’s Surroundings
This is one of the first images taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars the evening of Aug. 5 PDT (morning of Aug. 6 EDT). It was taken through a “fisheye” wide-angle lens on the left “eye” of a stereo pair of Hazard-Avoidance cameras on the left-rear side of the rover. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA employed complex ways to slowly land Curiosity, which weighs a ton, with the use of supersonic parachute, a jet-powered backpack and a never-before-used “sky crane.”

During the $US2.5 billion mission, which is expected to last at least 23 months, the rover will look for evidence if Mars may have once harbored the basic ingredients essential for life. It will also study the climate, geology and the radiation level during the journey for future manned mission.