Mars Science Laboratory

As you read this, the Mars Science laboratory (MSL) is en-route to Mars caring a new rover called Curiosity. The MSL was launched on November 26th, 2011 and is expected to reach Mars on August 6th, 2012. The primary mission of MSL is to study the habitability of Mars. Curiosity will attempt to determine if Mars will or has ever supported life by drilling into the ground and examining the chemical composition of the dirt. Based on what is found, NASA officials will be able to determine what the Mars environment was like a long time ago. Curiosity is much larger than any previous rovers and will be able to travel over several miles. It is design to stay in operation for one Martian year which is 687 Earth days. MSL is part to of NASA's Mar Exploration Program which includes all the past Mars rover missions most of which are still active.

This new mission is an example of one of the many things that NASA is working on right now that will bring humanity one step closer to landing a human on Mars. This mission could potentially prove to the world that Mars is the idea planet to colonize or a lifeless wasteland that would be more trouble than it is worth. If it is proven that there use to be life on Mars, or Mars once had an environment that could have supported life, then that would make Mars that much more desirable. If it is shown that Mars has never been in that state, that just means tells us that the materials needed to make it habitable will need to be imported for outside sources.Overall, this mission is important for the preparation of landing a human on Mars. Before we can start sending people over there, we need to learn as much as possible about the planet so that the people sent there are ready for almost anything.