The mission will be a straightforward flight to the Red Planet and return without landing.
Last November, the Mars probe Curiosity began its months-long journey to the red planet.
Seasonal fogs on the red planet would moisten the rocks with enough water to supply resident organisms.
Thirty years ago yesterday the first Martian lander set down on the face of the red planet.
It would take six months to reach the red planet, compared with three days to the moon.
The vehicle will be based on its Curiosity robot, which landed on the Red Planet in August.
That said, NASA expects Curiosity to continue exploring the Red Planet for a long, long time to come.
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Opportunity landed on the Red Planet in January 2004, about three weeks after its "twin", the Spirit rover.
It means that MSL could be the last American surface mission to the Red Planet for many years.
The robot, which is analysing rock samples on the Red Planet, is now running from a back-up computer.
Curiosity only landed on the Red Planet in August but already it has returned some truly exciting science.
How, then, did Oliver Morton manage to write such a lively and accurate book about the red planet?
It's a time when Earth and the Red Planet will be close and save money on fuel costs.
Together, they could revolutionize our knowledge of the red planet and extraterrestrial life.
It is not hard to imagine a chocolate-bar manufacturer that might lead a similar campaign to the red planet.
One key contribution would be the landing system that places the rover on the surface of the Red Planet.
Among the revelations: a telescopic image of Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it drops toward the red planet's surface.
It would then take an estimated 228 days outward, before looping around the red planet roughly 150 miles above its surface.
Curiosity is supposed to last for two years on the red planet, but previous missions suggest that it could go longer.
Mars Express will map the Red Planet in unprecedented detail - its best images will see objects down to two metres.
Knowing where such mineral deposits are can help guide future explorations for signs that life once existed on the red planet.
These rocks landed on Earth about 2.5 million years ago, after being blasted off the Red Planet by a violent impact.
MSN: Scientists say parts of Mars interior are as wet as Earth's
But when NASA's newest Mars rover, Curiosity, lands on the Red Planet next week, scientists hope to unlock a few more.
MSN: Curiosity aims to unlock Mars mysteries - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News
The mission is part of an international race among scientists around the globe to determine whether life exists on the red planet.
It includes a science lab that will collect mineral samples from the Red Planet, and try to determine if Mars is habitable.
Malin is the principal investigator for the camera onboard Mars Global Surveyor, currently in its fifth month of mapping the red planet.
On December 3rd 1999, a spacecraft called Mars Polar Lander (MPL) was supposed to touch down near the red planet's southern pole.
And no area looks more like the red planet than the crater.
CNN: Mars 'colonists' undaunted by bad luck, punishing weather
Some groups are already preparing for a life on the Red Planet.
He also has said that international cooperation is essential to any hope of ultimately putting astronauts on the surface of the red planet.
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