NASA to launch next Mars rover this year

NASA : Scheduled to launch late this year, NASA’s next Mars rover, Curiosity, will land at the foot of a mountain inside the planet’s Gale crater sometime in August 2012. " Curiosity not only will return a wealth of important science data, but it will serve as a precursor mission for human exploration to the Red Planet,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden. Researchers will use the rover’s tools to study whether the landing region had favorable environmental conditions for supporting microbial life and for preserving clues about whether life ever existed. To choose the site, more than 100 scientists considered the safety concerns and scientific attractions of some 30 different locations.