Touching Mars: Huge NASA Rover Carries Strong Arm for Red Planet
This artist concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory
Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars' past or
present ability to sustain microbial life. NASA's next Mars
rover, which is cruising toward an Aug. 5 landing, is a whole
new breed of Red Planet explorer. You can tell just by looking
at its huge and powerful robotic arm. The 1-ton Curiosity rover,
which is the centerpiece of the $2.5-billion Mars Science
Laboratory (MSL) mission, is the size of a Mini Cooper. Its arm
is longer than most people are tall, clocking in at 7 feet (2.1
meters). A bulky toolkit at the end of the arm will allow
Curiosity to study and manipulate Martian rocks and soil like no
previous rover. One of the tools is a drill that can go 1 inch
(2.5 centimeters) deep, enabling the rover to access the
interior of Red Planet rocks. “It’s an important and amazing
engineering feat,” said Ashwin Vasavada, MSL's deputy project
scientist. “We have this huge sev