Mars mission: high-tech four-wheel drive for the high-wheel drive vehicle for Mars the Red Planet - Nissan Juke GTR

Missions to Mars seems to be a curse: there have been dozens, most have failed. This should be 2012 (translated: curiosity) Curiosity to change. Curiosity is a 900-pound, with high-tech all-wheel-cluttered space vehicle with six wheels. The Mars Rover – as the Americans call a Mars robot – is very well packed on the way to Mars. He will study the surface and provide researchers with pictures and information. If everything goes according to plan, it says on 6 August 2012: “You have reached your goal.” The main features of the unmanned-wheel drive vehicle is a drill, a laser and multiple cameras. During the drill takes soil samples, the laser in a radius of six meters, determine the chemical composition of the soil. The cameras will provide three-dimensional photographs and video footage of the Martian surface. The U.S. space agency NASA hopes that this unprecedented images of the Red Planet.

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In order to succeed, must cope Curiosity but it was the biggest challenge: the landing. The heavy weight forces to an unprecedented and risky maneuver: Here, the robotic vehicle is sold in several stages in the Martian soil. A probe can – slowed by braking rockets – the floating robot base gene (see video). It comes down to precision, because the landing area is limited. It is approximately 20 times 25 kilometer plain at the foot of a mountain that rises almost 5,000 meters high from the bottom of a crater. From here to the Mars Rover to start his exploration. NASA chose this place because soil and rock formations indicating that it has once been water here. This opens up the possibility that there are deep beneath the surface of surviving microbes. Whether this is so, is to find out Curiosity. The entire mission is under pressure to succeed. Because imposing $ 2.5 billion (approximately € 1.9 billion), NASA has made it loose – and that in times of limited space budget. Up in the gallery, we present the vehicle in front of impressive detail!