Baking the Rover is Not an Option

November 20, 2008 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is now being prepared for its 2009 voyage to Mars, where the rover will sniff about for traces of organic material. The mission is designed to accurately “see and taste” the martian environment like never before, and could determine if the building blocks of life are present at the planet’s surface. The problem is that many of the substances MSL is made from can release molecules that might interfere with experiments. Many steps had to be taken during the mission’s design and preparation in order to to address this issue of contamination.

Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]