NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Nears Turning Point (NASA - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

(Source: NASA - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) June 05, 2013 Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission is approaching its biggest turning point since landing its rover, Curiosity, inside Mars' Gale Crater last summer. Curiosity is finishing investigations in an area smaller than a football field where it has been working for six months, and it will soon shift to a distance-driving mode headed for an area about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away, at the base Mount Sharp. In May, the mission drilled a second rock target for sample material and delivered portions of that rock powder into laboratory instruments in...