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NASA conducted the first test-drive of the new rover.. / July 27, 2010 /

Specialists of the American Space Agency (NASA) conducted the first test-drive the new rover «Curiosity", reported on the portal Universe Today.

The unit traveled several tens of centimeters on a special substrate, the so-called clean room — the room in which is kept very high level of air cleanliness. Curiosity move not only forward but also backward.

Start a new Mars rover mission scheduled for 2011, and landing on Mars — in August 2012. Curiosity will be equipped with multiple devices, with which he can learn the chemical composition of Martian rocks and geological features of the Red Planet. The unit will receive energy from the decay of the isotope plutonium-238.

Initially it was planned that will go to Mars rover in 2009, but in the process of preparation of the mission launch date was postponed. In addition, during the work on the creation of the apparatus showed that Curiosity to equip all the necessary equipment, the budget of the mission should be increased by $ 60 million

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