NASA is preparing to launch its latest rover on a bid to discover if there is – or ever was – life on Mars. The robot buggy, called Curiosity and the size of a Mini car, will be carried on an eight-month journey to the Red Planet in the $2.5 billion unmanned mission due for launch tomorrow, Saturday 26 November.

Curiosity zaps a rock with its laser in this artist's impression (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
On landing, it will trundle around at the foot of a three-mile high mountain in 96-mile wide Gale Crater. The site has been chosen because photos from orbit show it contains exposed layers of sediment rich in clays and minerals that must have formed in water. Scientists believe this makes it an ideal place to look for organic evidence of any Martian life forms. Curiosity – also known as Mars Science Laboratory – is being launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was given its name by an American schoolgirl.
Continued.