Nasa personnel cheers Curiosity landing on Mars - NASA/JPL-Caltech
PASADENA, USA and MARS – Curiosity, Nasa’s science rover, has safely landed on Mars and begun sending photos and data about the Red Planet to its home base in California, United States.
The rover landed inside Gale Crater, an ancient crater that may have once harbored water, one of the key ingredients for life as we know it.
“During a nearly two-year mission, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the chemical ingredients for life,” Nasa says in a statement.
Curiosity will explore Gale Crater and a 5 km-high mountain consisting of what appears to be sediments rising from the crater’s floor.
The landing marked a much-welcome success amidst budget cuts and the recent cancellation of Nasa’s space shuttle programme, its centerpiece for the last 30 years.
Links to: Nasa‘s Mars rover programme, Reuters
