NASA Launches New Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’ [VIDEO]

This past Saturday, November 26th, NASA launched its newest and most advanced Mars rover 'Curiosity'.  The rover will take a little over 8 months to reach the surface of the Red Planet, where it will retrieve samples and analyze them on the spot.

The new rover is equipped with 1o different instruments to drill, dig, and even shoot a laser at objects.  It is designed to go into further depth on the subject of life on Mars, and whether the planet was ever habitable in the past.  It should land some time in August of 2012. Curiosity will be lowered to the surface of Mars on a tether from a rocket powered pod, unlike past rovers which were encased in a protective 'bubble' and bounced down.  Check out a video of the launch, and an animation of how the rover will descend to the surface.  Fascinating stuff:  (via livescience.com)