NASA’s Mars Curiosity: 11 things you may not know (Interactive)
A multibillion dollar gamble, a most scary landing and possibly learning whether Mars once could have supported life — briefly, that’s what’s at stake in NASA’s Mars Curiosity mission, set to touch down early Monday. Mars is a difficult place to get to — only about a third of the 44 missions there have succeeded. Curiosity is the most ambitious and complex Mars mission ever conceived, writes Marc Kaufman, author of “First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth.’’ Soon, we’ll know whether Curiosity’s creators were brilliant and farseeing — or reaching too far.
In this stripped-down economic time, the $2.5 billion mission could become the last of its kind if something goes wrong. Or it could send back such compelling information and pictures that the public demands more Mars exploration, and Congress and the White House have to respond. Before you bet, know that only six of more than a dozen spacecraft that have reached Mars actually landed successfully and completed their missions. All six were American. Will Curiosity be the seventh? (Left, Curiosity launches on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral.)
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