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24/05/2013

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Material World

Image for 06/08/2012

Listen now 30 mins

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06/08/2012

Duration:
30 minutes
First broadcast:
Monday 06 August 2012

Quentin Cooper reports on the latest surface rover mission to Mars - NASA's Curiosity, or Mars Science Laboratory - twice as long, twice the science, and five times as heavy as its famous forebears.

Landing on the floor of the Gale Crater, next to a mountain of sedimentary strata, the 10 different instruments carried on board will provide more knowledge of the geological history of Mars - including the possibility of microbial life during an earlier, wetter epoch of Mars' past - than any previous mission.

  • Mars Science Laboratory

    Mars Science Laboratory

    Midway through its “seven minutes of terror” descent to Mars, Curiosity is spotted from the satellite Mars Reconnaissance Orbitor. ©NASA

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    Material World

    Weekly science conversation, on everything from archaeology to zoology, from abacus to the...

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