America's dream machine flies to Mars

The most advanced and expensive American exploration robot launched on Mars yesterday to find evidence of the existence of life on the red planet.

>>>Video: Atlas 5 rocket brings Curiosity to space

The Curiosity self-propelled device - also known as the Mars Laboratory - is pushed up by the Atlas 5 rocket from Canaveral air base at 10:00 am in local time. This is the first time the United States has sent exploration robots to Mars in the past 8 years. After passing 566 million kilometers, the robot will land on Mars on August 6, 2012. It moved by six wheels and took soil samples with a mechanical arm, the AP reported.

The Atlas 5 rocket brought Curiosity to space from the air base
Canaveral, Florida state, USA on November 26. (Photo: AP)

Curiosity's mission is to analyze soil and rock in the Gale hole on Mars in search of organic compounds - a sign that microorganisms used to exist on the red planet. Gale Hole has only a small mountain so the self-propelled device can climb the mountain's position to analyze soil and rock samples.

The data sent by the self-propelled device will help NASA plan for future Mars exploration efforts.

'It is possible that chemicals are complex and necessary for life that once appeared on Mars. The traces of life were still there, ' said Pamela Conrad, a senior expert in the group of Martian material samples.

With manufacturing costs of up to $ 2.5 billion, Curiosity is the largest, most expensive and most advanced exploration device the US has ever built to serve Mars exploration. For the scientific world, it's really a dream machine. Curiosity - 900kg in weight and as big as a car - is equipped with 10 state-of-the-art equipment to analyze soil, rock and air in the Gale pit. Plutonium batteries help robots have enough electricity to operate for more than 10 years. Experts predict the device will fail before the electricity runs out.