NASA's Curiosity rover will land on the Mars in the early morning hours of August 6.
Rover, according to the NASA scientists, is a $2.5 billion dream machine. It is on a two-year mission to find out the evidence of past existence of life, water and sources of energy and carbon on the Red Planet, the US space agency informed.
Launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral on 26 November, 2011, Curiosity will land in Mars' Gale Crater near Mount Sharp at 0531 GMT on August 6. The vessel, carrying Curiosity, will enter through the Mars' upper atmosphere, and will ensure that the craft has a secure landing. Landing, however, is of course no easy task, NASA scientists say.
"The Curiosity landing is the hardest NASA mission ever attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration," John Grunsfeld, the associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington said in a statement.
"While the challenge is great, the team's skill and determination give me high confidence in a successful landing," Grunsfeld added.
According to John Grotzinger, a NASA scientist involved in the mission, "I see it as an extraordinary opportunity to get a bearing on our own existence on Earth." He further added, "Ascending Mount Sharp, we're going to go through the major eras in the ... history of Mars that give us the basis for comparison to our own planet."
Curiosity, which has six wheels and weighs 900 kilograms, is two times longer and five times heavier than its predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity. The rover is equipped with 10 scientific instruments including a nuclear generator, high-definition cameras and a laser to examine targets at a distance of up to seven meters.
