BBC News: It weighs almost a ton, has cost more than $2 billon and, in 2013, it will be lowered on to the surface of Mars with a landing system that has never been tried before.
The Mars Science Laboratory will “revolutionize investigations in science on other planets,” says Doug McCuistion, director of Nasa’s Mars exploration program.It will, he says, lay the foundations for future missions that will eventually bring Martian rocks to Earth."The ability to put a metric ton on the surface... gives us the capability to undertake sample collection,” says McCuistion. “To collect and launch samples back into orbit will require that size of a vehicle."But it has been a rather bumpy road to revolution, including 1000 parts made from a “bad batch” of titaniumThe project has been struggling with technical challenges for several years, but Jim Green, the director of Nasa’s planetary science division, recently announced to the planetary science subcommittee that the project had finally turned the corner.
