APOD 2.4

This week's picture features the launching of the Curiosity Rover! This rover, five times larger than the opportunity rover, is a new breed of rovers. I say this because this rover has two fully automated labs, a drill designed to work on mars and nuclear reactor for powering this mighty machine. It has the "standard" head with many cameras and other devices to determine where it is and where it would like to go. Also, this Rover has a new system of deployment on the surface of Mars that will allow it to jet pack into a spot instead of just letting it bounce along the surface of the planet. The mission of the rover is to explore the Gale crater, determine if life was ever on mars, and if we have a chance of settling mars in the near future.