Mars No. Gale Crater - Curiosity Rover on Mars
by Detlev van Ravenswaay - Detlev van Ravenswaay - © Detlev Van Ravenswaay/Science Photo Library/Corbis
Mars's Gale Crater from space
NASA's next Mars rover, the Curiosity Rover, will land at the foot of a layered mountain inside the planet's Gale Crater, caused by an asteroid impact millions of years ago. I looks different to other craters, maybe the asteroid hit Mars in a wet era. Launch is planned for November/ December 2011. After performing the first ever precise landing in August 2012, the MCR will help access Mars' hability, that is, whether Mars is or was an environment able to support microbial life.