NASA's $2.3B Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) robot known as Curiosity took its first test drive on Friday inside a NASA cleanroom, moving about 1 meter. As the successor to two wildly successful Mars rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), NASA has high hopes for Curiosity, which weights as much as a small SUV, has a six-wheel rocker-bogie suspension about waist height, and is nuclear powered via a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG). Curiosity is an amazing piece of technology in its own right, and even more impressive when considering its marvelous sensor payload. Personally, I'm proud to see my tax dollars being used for such impressive scientific pursuits. Check out Curiosity's first test drive in the video below.
Curiosity will hopefully hit the Martian surface some time in 2012. If you'd like to learn more, Wikipedia a great overview.
[MSNBC via Popular Science]