A total of six rovers have been sent to the Red Planet, Mars, for the past 40 years. The first 2 rovers were sent by USSR in the year 1971. They were named as “Mars1” and “Mars2”. Both of them met with a failure in operation within the couple of days of launching. The next 4 rovers were sent by the United States consecutively with a motive to research over the planet and also to find out whether human can sustain a living in Mars.
The third and first US rover called “Sojourner”, lost its communication with NASA laboratory in 1997 after 3 months of launching and next one called “Spirit” rover got trapped by mis-landing of wheels which let to its failure and loss of communication too. The fifth rover called “Opportunity” rover is still in communication and operating successfully as per the NASA information provided to the media. The recently launched rover on November 26, 2011, “Curiosity” is expected to land in August 2012. A large expectation is seeded across the globe of its successful landing because it is the largest of all the rovers sent so far and it’s even more advanced. It had carried 10 instruments with the overall weight more than 15% of its predecessor. Astronomers are hoping to get information and pictures regarding existence of water and carbon in Mars through this Rover.
The landing method is different too as it would be using a sky-crane set up to land to withstand the weight. Meanwhile, the next rover “Exomars” is reportedly said to be launched in 2018.
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