Mars Curiosity: Facts and Information

The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover centerpiece, Curiosity, is the most ambitious Mars mission yet flown by NASA. The rover's primary mission is to find out if Mars is, or was, suitable for life. Another objective is to learn more about the red planet's environment.

Curiosity's size allows it to carry a host of scientific experiments to zap, analyze and take pictures of any rock within reach of its 7-foot (2 meters) arm. Curiosity is about the size of a small SUV. It is 9 feet 10 inches long by 9 feet 1 inch wide (3 m by 2.8 m) and about 7 feet high (2.1 m). It weighs 2,000 lbs. (900 kilograms). Curiosity's wheels have a 20-inch (50.8 cm) diameter.

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed the rover to roll over obstacles up to 25 inches (65 centimeters) high and to travel about 660 feet (200 meters) per day. The rover's power comes from a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which produces electricity from the heat of plutonium-238's radioactive decay.

parts of Mars Curiosity: Facts and Information

http://www.space.com/17963-mars-curiosity.html

structure of the lead:

Who - NASA

When - landed on August 6th, 2012

Why - to find if it suitable for lives to survive

Where - on Mars

How - by rocket

key words:

1.rover漫遊者

2.ambitious有野心的

3.objective目的

4.zap快速移動或是殺死

5.analyze分析;分解

6.SUV(Sport Utility Vehicle)越野運動休旅車  這裡說明好奇號就像是小的越野休旅車

7.obstacle障礙物

8.radioisotope thermoelectric放射性同位素 熱電(大概就是什麼科學物質

9.generator發電機

10.radioactive放射性

11.decay腐壞