NASA Sends "Curiosity" Rover to Mars

I recently read an article and even caught glimpse of this event on the television, which NASA sent a probe out into orbit.  In Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 26 NASA released a rover into space on its nine month mission to the red planet Mars.  The rover was named Curiosity and is the most advanced rover that they have ever sent out into the depths of space.  The journey was basically for trying to depict if life is on Mars and prepare for future human explorations on the planet.  I think this is a spectacular achievement for the United States, knowing how lately our government has still been trying to figure out the funding for the space program NASA.  We need to keep NASA alive and this was an excellent way to keep our goals right on track for future missions to Mars.  This rover is also noted to be the fastest one ever built.  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory stated, “Once on the surface, the rover will be able to roll over obstacles up to 75 centimeters (29 inches) high and travel up to 90 meters (295 feet) per hour. On average, the rover is expected to travel about 30 meters (98 feet) per hour, based on power levels, slippage, steepness of the terrain, visibility, and other variables.”  This rover gives us hope on finding out more about Mars because it will be able to travel across a lot more terrain, which in the end will give us a lot better findings and results.  The previous Mars rovers only rolled at 18 meters per hour, which is a tremendous difference.  I believe with NASA creating such a rover that the future of space exploration is at an all-time high and will only continue to sky rocket.  We need to continue missions like this and expand our knowledge of the other planets in our solar system.  Overall, I believe this mission is one to keep recorded in the books and hopefully we discover something extraordinary that we have yet to see.  Space exploration and travel is the key for bettering our future as a planet.