Crater with Mysterious Mountain Will Be the Landing Site for Next Mars Rover

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By Veronique Greenwood
Jul 25, 2011 10:04 PMNov 20, 2019 5:45 AM

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http://youtu.be/MIpFgump7so What's the News: On Friday, after five years of deliberation over 100 candidates, NASA announced its choice of landing site for Curiosity, the next Mars rover: Gale crater, a massive pit with a three-mile-high mound in its center. The mission's primary goal is to assess whether conditions suitable for microbial life ever existed on the Red Planet; Gale was selected over the three other finalists in part because its mountain promises access to layered sediments extending deep into the Martian past. Why Gale Crater:

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