It's Alive! NASA Test-Drives Its New Hulking Mars Rover, Curiosity

NASA's next Mars rover took its first tiny test drive at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Friday. If all goes well, it will be en route to the Red Planet by late next year on a mission to look for environments that could have once harbored life. The Mars Science Laboratory rover, now christened "Curiosity," received its key parts this month: