Bob Park: The Mars Science Laboratory, including a new Mars rover, Curiosity, was launched 26 Nov 2011 from Cape Canaveral by an Atlas V rocket. It's scheduled to land on Mars at Gale Crater near Mount Sharp on 6 Aug 2012. The primary objective is to determine whether Mars has ever supported life. Curiosity is about five times larger than the Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, and uses far more sophisticated instrumentation. Its designed to explore for at least one Martian year (687 Earth days) over a range of 5-20 km. Instead of solar panels, Curiosity relies on an RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) for power, allowing it to operate at full power night and day, unaffected by dust collecting on its surfaces. The isotope of choice is Pu-238, an alpha emitter with an 87.7 year half- life that generates about 0.5 watts/gram. According to the March 23 issue of Aviation Week, U.S. production of Pu-238 was halted in 1988 and supplies are dwindling. NASA and the Department of Energy expect to restart production of Pu-238 in six or seven years and for the first time use the isotope more efficiently in the Advanced Sterling Radioisotope Generator.
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