Mars Science Laboratory
The aim of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, and its surface robotic payload Curiosity rover, is to search for signs of ancient life. It is hoped that a later mission could then return samples that the laboratory identified as probably containing remains of life. To safely bring the craft down, a 12 mile wide, smooth, flat circle is needed. Geologists hope to examine places where water once ponded. They would like to examine sediment layers. The Mars Science Laboratory landed on Aeolis Palus near Aeolis Mons in Gale Crater on 6 August 2012. The landing was 2.279 km (1.416 mi) from the target (4°35′31″S 137°26′25″E / 4.591817°S 137.440247°E / -4.591817; 137.440247), closer than any previous rover landings and well within the target oval.
Read more about this topic: Aeolis Quadrangle
Famous quotes containing the words mars, science and/or laboratory:
“But in the dome of mighty Mars the red,”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“If science fiction is the mythology of modern technology, then its myth is tragic.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“With all of its bad influences, T.V. is not to be feared.... It can be a fairly safe laboratory for confronting, seeing through, and thus being immunized against unhealthy values so as to be “in the world but not of it.””
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)