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First of two NASA Mars missions this month to be launched Sunday
Washington, June 05: The first of two robotic Mars missions that NASA plans to launch this month is set to blast off sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the U.S. Space Agency said.
Washington, June 05: The first of two robotic Mars missions that NASA plans to launch this month is set to blast off sunday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the U.S. Space Agency said.
The delta rocket is scheduled to launch at 2:05 p.m. local time (1805 gmt) carrying a rover that will eventually parachute through the martian atmosphere to land on the surface of the red planet. The second Mars mission is to be launched June 25 and will also carry a rover. Both are due to reach Mars in January.
The six-wheeled rovers, each weighing 180 kilogrammes, will spend three months on Mars looking mainly for water and other signs of life, if they function as planned. They are equipped with cameras so that people on earth can share views from its excursions on television and the internet.
The European Space Agency`s first mission to Mars, launched monday from Russia`s spaceport in Kazakhstan, passed the moon wednesday in the first stages of its six-month voyage. It is carrying a lander called the ``Beagle 2`` that will remain stationary while probing martian soil and searching for signs of life.
Bureau Report