Mars rover Curiosity can vaporize rocks, roam the Red Planet
NASA has been preparing for years to move the rover around Mars.
And next week, officials are likely to start taking Curiosity
for a spin. Los Angeles Times science writer Monte Morin
discussed how the rover will roam around the Red Planet during a
Google+ Hangout on Thursday. Since its dramatic touchdown on
Mars on Aug. 5, Curiosity has been doing an extended "stretch"
of sorts -- unfolding its limbs, testing its cameras and sending
reassuring notes back to Earth. In the coming days, engineers at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge will
test the rover's steering actuators. Then Curiosity is to take
its first few "steps" -- driving perhaps a few feet before
turning around and surveying the spot where it landed. Morin
reported that NASA's "drivers" are awaiting the chance to
operate Curiosity, a device twice the size of its predecessors,
Spirit and Opportunity, and loaded with improvements, such as a
nuclear battery and a laser t