1. It was named by a sixth grader
In 2008 NASA had a contest to name the new mars rover and curiosity was the winner
2. The mars rover cost 2.5 billion dollars
The original budget for the rover was 1.5 billion dollars. Scientists wanted to run more tests to make sure it would land safely, costing a billion dollars
Curiosity Isn't Alone
There are two other rovers on mars, one named Spirit can no longer move but everything else is operational. Another one named opportunity has been fully operational since 2004!
3. The rover weighs a ton on earth
9. The Rover Is In an Elite Group
Weighing 1,982 lbs the rover weighs just about as much as a MINI cooper. It weighs just over 750 lbs on mars
Of the
Of the 39 missions to Mar's 24 have failed and curiosity has the best chance to find signs of life
Crazy Facts About Curiosity, The Mars Rover
Charlie Monday
4. The landing was fast
The mars rover was flying through mars' atmosphere at over 8,00 miles per hour which is slower than NASA expected. It landed over a minute after NASA expected so NASA thought the rover had crashed
8. The Rover Won't Find Life on Mars
The rover's mission isn't to find life on Mars, just find essential life materials such as carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen
7. It's computers are less powerful than the iPhone
The iPhone 4S has four times the processing power of the computers on board but the iPhone can't handle the radiation on mars so that's why they didn't just slap on a phone
6. The rover runs on nuclear power
NASA didn't think solar power was reliable enough so they went with nuclear power. There is so much potential power on board it could run for 7 times longer than expected
5. The Rover is slow on the ground
The rover will be operational for two years but is only expected to move 3 to 12 miles that whole time
Bibliography
"20 Cool Facts You Didn’t Know About the Mars Curiosity Rover at Bunch Family." Bunch Family. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013. <http://bunchfamily.ca/20-cool-facts-you-didnt-know-about-the-mars-curiosity-rover/>.
Fox, Jon. "12 Crazy Facts About the Mars Rover - IGN." Video Games, Wikis, Cheats, Walkthroughs, Reviews, News & Videos - IGN. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr.
2013.<http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/10/12-crazy-facts-about-the-mars-rover>.
"5 surprising facts about NASA's Curiosity Mars rover | Digital Trends." Technology News, Product Reviews and App Reviews | Digital Trends. N.p., n.d. Web. 11Apr.2013.<http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/curiosity-mars-rover-5-surprising-facts/>.