Mars rover scheduled to land, on autopilot

The Curiosity, the most high-tech rover from NASA, will be attempting a landing on the surface of Mars, the Star Tribune reported.

The rover, which weighs almost a ton, needed a different way to land from previous Mars rovers, according to the Star Tribune. Instead of airbags surrounding the rover, the Curiosity will land via braking similar to a space shuttle, a parachute to slow it down, and lowering the rover from cables into a crater.

The rover is set to land in a crater with a 3-mile-high mountain in the middle, the Pioneer Press reported. Images of the mountain, called Mount Sharp, suggest the lower layers of the mountain have signs of water in them.