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NASA hopes for better weather for Mars probe launch
Cape Canveral, June 10: NASA was counting on a break in the weather on Tuesday so it could launch a twice-delayed Mars mission to put a six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface to search for ancient signs of life.
Cape Canveral, June 10: NASA was counting on a break in the weather on Tuesday so it could launch a twice-delayed Mars mission to put a six-wheeled robot on the Martian surface to search for ancient signs of life.
Launch managers set Tuesday at 1:58 p.m. EDT for liftoff of the first of two Mars Expedition Rovers, each about the size of a riding lawn mower, to learn whether water existed on the Martian surface long enough to support life.
Thunderstorms have kept the rover and its Delta 2 rocket on the launch pad since Sunday, but the forecast for Tuesday improves considerably, with a 70 percent chance that the weather will be good enough for a launch.
The robot rover will be joined in space by a twin scheduled for launch on June 25.
The two rovers, with a combined price tag of $800 million, are the most sophisticated robots ever sent to another planet and will land on opposite sides of Mars.
There is no fixed limit on how far they can range once they reach Mars, but mission planners said that after three months, dust settling on their solar-power panels could deprive them of power.
Japanese and European missions are already on their way to Mars. The crowded launch schedule takes advantage of a rare proximity between the planets that has cut the normal travel time of nine to 10 months to just seven months for missions launched this year.
Earlier Mars probes found the planet was once awash in water, but scientists hope the new rovers will be able to determine if it was present long enough to support life.
On Earth, wherever water occurs naturally, there is also evidence of life. Scientists believe that if that holds true for Mars as well, it could indicate that life not only existed there, but perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos as well. Bureau Report
Launch managers set Tuesday at 1:58 p.m. EDT for liftoff of the first of two Mars Expedition Rovers, each about the size of a riding lawn mower, to learn whether water existed on the Martian surface long enough to support life.
Thunderstorms have kept the rover and its Delta 2 rocket on the launch pad since Sunday, but the forecast for Tuesday improves considerably, with a 70 percent chance that the weather will be good enough for a launch.
The robot rover will be joined in space by a twin scheduled for launch on June 25.
The two rovers, with a combined price tag of $800 million, are the most sophisticated robots ever sent to another planet and will land on opposite sides of Mars.
There is no fixed limit on how far they can range once they reach Mars, but mission planners said that after three months, dust settling on their solar-power panels could deprive them of power.
Japanese and European missions are already on their way to Mars. The crowded launch schedule takes advantage of a rare proximity between the planets that has cut the normal travel time of nine to 10 months to just seven months for missions launched this year.
Earlier Mars probes found the planet was once awash in water, but scientists hope the new rovers will be able to determine if it was present long enough to support life.
On Earth, wherever water occurs naturally, there is also evidence of life. Scientists believe that if that holds true for Mars as well, it could indicate that life not only existed there, but perhaps elsewhere in the cosmos as well. Bureau Report