NASA | The Challenge Of Mars Exploration [HD]

Mars is an enigmatic planet, and studying it is no easy task. All told, Mars missions have failed more often than they have succeeded, but the information gathered by those that have outwitted, out-engineered and out-lucked the planet has shown it to be an intriguing place where water likely existed in liquid form on the surface, and where one can imagine the possibility of all manner of bacteria living just below the surface. The remarkable success of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, gave impetus to the development of an even more capable spacecraft The Mars Science Laboratory. If successful, this new spacecraft may open the door for a future mission with the potential to detect whether or not life may have ever existed on Mars.

Speaker Richard Cook
Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager, JPL

To see more videos about von Kármán Lecture Series, please visit
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6vzpF_OEV8ko2IaScmwl6Kk32s9tIBvY

Release Date 13 September 2012

Credit

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)