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Exploring the mysterious
Red Planet.
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Well, the theme of solar system
exploration, whether it's Mars
or somewhere else
in the solar system,
has been 'follow the water'.
Water is essential to life
as we know it on the Earth.
So is there is life?
Is there water somewhere
else in the solar system?
That was the main goal of
Spirit and Opportunity,
the two Mars exploration
rovers that landed in 2004,
and Opportunity is
actually still operating.
Their goal was to find out:
was there ever liquid
water on Mars in the past.
And the answer to that
was "Yes, there is."
Mission accomplished.
So how is Curiosity or Mars
Science Laboratory going to pick
up where Spirit and
Opportunity left off?
The Mars Science Laboratory
is like a robotic chemist.
We're actually taking
instruments this time to try
to find out what
the rocks were like.
What the chemistry was like.
Is it possible that there
were ever organic molecules,
the building blocks of life?
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Be sure to tell your teacher
to visit the NASA Explorer
Schools virtual campus.
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