spacetoday.net: Curiosity completes first drive on Martian surface

Curiosity completes first drive on Martian surface

Posted: Sat, Aug 25, 2012, 10:48 AM ET (1448 GMT)
Mars Science Laboratory illustration (NASA/JPL)

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity performed its first, brief drive across the Martian surface on Wednesday in the latest step to demonstrate the spacecraft's capabilities. Curiosity moved forward, turned, and went into reverse during the driving demonstration Wednesday, ending about six meters from where it landed on the night of August 5. The movement was part of continuing efforts to check out and characterize the rover's systems and its instruments before beginning routine science operations. Also on Wednesday, NASA formally named the landing site on Mars where Curiosity touched down "Bradbury Landing", after the late science fiction author Ray Bradbury.