NASA Lands on Mars

Nasa's robotic rover successfully landed on Mars

After a flight for 36 weeks, advanced robotic vehicle owned by the U.S. space agency (NASA), Curiosity, landed next to the mountains on Mars on Monday (6/8). Robots will be doing research for two years.

The spacecraft Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which brought Curiosity successfully through all stages of the landing of the most complex on the surface of Mars. Including the final stages of deciding the reins and maneuvering flight of the rocket backpack.

According to the official website of NASA robotic vehicles landed near the foot of a mountain with a height of three miles (4.8 kilometers) in diameter and 96 miles (154.5 kilometers) inside the crater called Gale Crater.

"Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars. Curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built, is now on the surface of the Red Planet, where it will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars," said NASA administrator, Charles Bolden.

Curiosity has sent its first view of Mars, a vast rocky land in front of the vehicle. Observation of the orbit is identified clay and sulfate minerals in the bottom layer, indicating that the area had been wet before. In the next few days Curiosity will send more pictures of Mars.

"Our Curiosity is talking to us from the surface of Mars. The landing takes us past the most hazardous moments for this project, and begins a new and exciting mission to pursue its scientific objectives," said MSL Project Manager of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Peter Theisinger.

Robotic vehicles that brought ten scientific instruments, with a total weight of 15 times heavier than the previous charge of a vehicle that landed on Mars, Spirit and Opportunity. Devices that brought, among others, the instrument laser shooters to examine the elements making up rocks from a distance.

Curiosity also use a drill and a spoon on the end of the arm to collect samples of soil and rock powder, then sift and put it into the analytical laboratory in a vehicle. Furthermore, Curiosity will launch the prime mission to investigate the possibility of planetary conditions suitable for microbial life.

Bolden said the landing of Curiosity on Mars today will mark the first step to sending humans to Mars in mid-2030.

Pictures surface of Mars sent by the Mars rover vehicle "Curiosity" United States space agency NASA. Curiosity rover vehicle landed on the red planet, early Monday (8/6) Earth time on a mission to search for signs of life on Mars for two years. REUTERS / Courtesy NASA / Handout