Five Outstanding Facts About the MSL

The Mars Science Laboratory is the next rover mission that NASA has in store for the Red Planet. Though the agency has built exploration rovers before, this one really takes home the prize.

The machine, which is also known by its stage name Curiosity, is scheduled to be completed by next year, when it's supposed to launch in the fall. Arrival at Mars is scheduled for August 2012.

Unlike its predecessors Spirit and Opportunity, whose main goal was to analyze the geology of the Red Planet, Curiosity's main mission will be to determine whether Mars ever had the environmental conditions necessary to support life.

If successful, this type of investigation could allow us to determine where to search for current or past life on Mars, during future missions there.

Given the proximity of the launch date, here are some of the rover's most outstanding features.

Size

The MSL is considerably larger and heavier than its predecessors. It boasts a length of 9 feet, or 2.8 meters, which makes it about the size of a Mini Cooper.

It is also four times heavier than either Spirit or Opportunity, and reaches a weight of about a ton. This raised new problems for the landing stage of the mission.

In comparison to Curiosity, the microwave oven-sized Pathfinder, which landed on Mars in 1997, is dwarfed, and doesn't even reach the height of MSL's wheel.

Landing

Destination was a significant problem for the MSL. In the end, four sites were announced as “finalists,” in the challenge, though a clear decision on where the robot will land has yet to be made.

Due to the large mass and bulky size of the rover, landing it could not be done the old-fashioned way, using air cushions. So experts at NASA needed to come up with a new approach.

Their new method is called the Sky Crane, and it represents an entirely new system altogether. It will use a parachute – the largest ever sent to space – and a rocket-powered, backpack-like propulsion system.

The backpack will slow down Curiosity's descent, and then it will lower the rover on a tether directly on the Martian surface. After this is done, the component will fly away, and crash nearby.

Instruments

MSL grew to its impressive size because it needed to carry numerous instruments. Unlike geology rovers such as Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity needs to be able to analyze samples for traces of organic compounds.

As such, it boasts a suite of no less than 10 science instruments, which can survey the atmosphere, soil and ground of Mars with equal efficiency.

For example, one of its tools will be used to shine laser light on rocks up to 90 feet away, while another one will analyze the resulting chemical compounds from the same distance.

Inside its belly, the MSL will carry ovens that will allow it to heat up samples, and then analyze the fumes in search for spectrographic traces of organic compounds.

Additionally, a number of 2D and 3D cameras will provide incredible images of the Martian surface.

Wheels

In order to get to the proverbial other side, MSL will be using wheels that were the stuff of science fiction just years ago.

The rover's chassis will allow for both the wheel pair in the front and that in the back to steer, which means that the robot will be able to do a 360-degree in place.

Each individual wheel will have its own motor and propulsion, which will allow for a better control of the machine overall.

Experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, who manage the mission, say that the diameter of the wheels on Curiosity is double that of the wheels on Spirit.

This will allow the new rover to get past obstacles that are as high as 75 centimeters (30 inches).

Power

In order to power up this car-sized behemoth, experts at NASA opted to install a nuclear battery into Curiosity. Solar panels would have simply been insufficient for the job.

If the MSL was to be propelled by sunlight, it would have needed enormous panels, that would have incapacitated the rover as soon as dust would have settled on them.

With the nuclear battery, the machine can operate for longer, and at latitudes that are inaccessible to light-powered robots.