The Hindu : Robots to probe for life on Mars

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 09, 2003

International

International

Robots to probe for life on Mars

The Mars Exploration Rover. — AP

CAPE CANAVERAL (Florida) June 8. The first of a pair of robots is ready to launch from Cape Canaveral, joining a scientific armada headed for Mars in an international effort to determine if life exists or ever existed on Earth's neighbour.

The first of two Mars Expedition Rovers, robots about the size of riding lawn mowers, sat atop a Delta 2 rocket scheduled for launch at 2:05 p.m. local time on Sunday.

Its twin is scheduled for launch on June 25. They join Japanese and European satellites on their way to the red planet and two NASA satellites already orbiting Mars.

All the activity takes advantage of a rare proximity between the planets that has cut the normal travel time from the usual nine to 10 months to just seven months for missions launched this year.

The two rovers, with a combined price tag of $800 millions, are the most sophisticated robots ever sent to another planet. They will land on opposite sides of the planet and have few limitations on where they can travel and what they can study.

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