Inside NASA's Most Ambitious Mars Mission

The one ton, $2.5 billion Curiosity is the most scientifically equipped probe ever sent to another planet. And when the robot rover touches down on Sunday, it will begin an intensive search for signs that Mars may have once hosted life. WSJ takes an inside look at NASA's ambitious Mars mission.

More from the Wall Street Journal:

[KenosVQ]

man they need to make a fast ass rover

[simplynumba]

I wonder what kinds of life the craft will find among exploration of the terrain. If anything is there, it can either be very similar to us or outrageous beyond comparison. Some of the very sea trenches on our planet have internal lighting systems for pitch dark communication.

[MarcelKlein]

The atmosphere on Mars is much thinner than on earth. So even with low gravity you would need a large plane and large propellers. A jet engine would not work because the lack of oxygen, also how to refill? Obviously the plane needs to fly autonomous and there is no GPS on Mars. So the drone would need to analyse any surface with cameras in real time at high velocities to start and land successfully and has no super computer on board. Curiosity only had risky onetime drop in a flat area.

[TungstenWu]

HI I come from NOW it survived and lol

[sausagemash]

hi, I come from the future it survived :)

[sausagemash]

I'm going to regret asking this, what's really going on then ?