NASA selects landing site for Mars rover

[n2doc]

By Marc Kaufman, Published: July 22
A large Martian crater that once featured running water and now has a three-mile high mountain in the middle of it was selected as the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, NASA officials said Friday.

The long-debated decision was based on the wide range of features the rover can explore in Gale Crater — ranging from a fan that was likely once a river delta, to layers of clay and additional areas where minerals were created in the presence of water.

In addition, the rover — which can travel as far as 14 miles — will explore what may well have once been a river gorge like the Grand Canyon and will climb hundreds of yards up the central mountain.

“At Gale, we’ll be able to see a long history of ancient Martian environments,” said Dawn Sumner of the University of California at Davis and co-chair of the committee that selected Gale Crater out of 160 other possible sites. “It has so many environments that could once have been habitable.”

more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasa-selects-landing-site-for-mars-rover/2011/07/22/gIQAb8sfTI_story.html

[Lucinda]

1. TY for the link.

:hi: