Samsung Galaxy Nexus torn down, Ice Cream Sandwich gets everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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KABUL, Afghanistan ? The Afghan president said Tuesday the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops has ordered a retraining for the coalition forces following recent deaths of Afghan civilians in military operations.
Hamid Karzai said he received a letter from U.S. Gen. John Allen saying NATO was aggressively investigating the deaths and had ordered all units to retrain their troops on the procedures for using force against insurgents while protecting Afghan civilians
On Nov. 23, six children and an adult were killed in a NATO airstrike in Zhari district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan. Allen said then that the incident occurred when coalition forces were responding to offensive actions by insurgents.
The statement from Karzai's office quotes the letter the president received from Allen.
"I have issued direct orders for all units to conduct retraining on our methods of employing force against insurgents while protecting Afghan civilians," the statement said, quoting Allen. "No later than Dec. 5, units will confirm to me that they have complied with these orders."
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the coalition, said Allen's letter to Karzai was meant to reaffirm his commitment to investigate the incidents and make sure that the right protective measures are in place to prevent Afghan civilians from being killed or wounded in the future.
Karzai has long complained about the number of civilians killed in the crossfire during military operations against militants.
A recent report by the United Nations said the number of Afghan civilians killed in war-related violence rose 15 percent in the first half of this year. The U.N. said 1,462 Afghan civilians lost their lives in the first six months of the year compared with 1,271 in the same period of 2010.
In an incident early Tuesday, Afghan and coalition troops captured an al-Qaida operative in Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, NATO said. The coalition said two individuals who displayed hostility toward the joint force were killed and a third suspected insurgent was detained.
Gulam Sakhi, a relative of the two killed, claimed they were not insurgents.
"They were ordinary laborers," he said. "We have no link with al-Qaida."
Separately, a tribal leader and former jihad commander was shot and killed by the Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, according to Wardak provincial governor's office.
Milam Aziziullah, who also was member of the Jaghatu district council, was killed as he was driving home Monday afternoon.
"Azizullah's death is a big loss for Wardak people," Wardak provincial governor Mohammad Halim Fedawi said. "He was a commander during jihad and fought against the Soviets and was at the service of the local people as a tribal leader."
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The 2010 Leonid Meteor Shower is set to peak Nov. 17 and 18. Eastern Oregon is a fantastic place to view meteors because there are almost no larger cities. In the La Grande vicinity, quite a few spots are available to catch the Leonids. Drive just a little way from town, and you will find yourself in an area outside of the city glow. Dress warmly, bring some hot chocolate or cider, and prepare yourself for the show.
Mt. Emily
From downtown La Grande, plan on 30 to 45 minutes to drive to Mt. Emily, a scenic viewpoint of the Grande Ronde Valley. These are country roads, and it will be dark when you head out to Mt. Emily, so be on the lookout for animals on the road. This is a great spot to check out the Leonid Meteor Shower because you will certainly avoid traffic and city lights. The meteors will stand out in brilliant beauty against the night sky. Find a map and directions to Mt. Emily here.
Morgan Lake
I love Morgan Lake any time of the year, but why not try it out to watch the Leonids? The drive up to, and the area around, the lake is heavily treed. However, right at Morgan Lake has open area. I can't think of a more romantic place to catch the meteors with your sweetie than the lake. Quite a few people live on Morgan Lake Road, but the homes are well-spaced, so their lights should not affect viewing. I definitely recommend four-wheel drive or excellent winter traction. Although snow hasn't reached the valley floor yet, the Morgan Lake Road can be sketchy even in summer. Plan on 30 minutes from downtown La Grande, depending on road conditions. A map and directions are located here.
Mt. Fanny
Mt. Fanny is located near Cove, Oregon. This makes it about 20 miles outside of La Grande. Drive time will be about 30 to 45 minutes. Mt. Fanny is one of the highest peaks surrounding the Grande Ronde Valley. Cove is a very small town, so it casts little glow. There should be minimal distractions for your viewing of the Leonid Meteor Shower. Map and directions located here.
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HARRISBURG, Pa (Reuters) ? A preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials charged with perjury in connection with the child sex scandal of a former assistant football coach has been postponed, court records showed on Tuesday.
Tim Curley, Penn State's athletic director who is on administrative leave, and Gary Schultz, a university finance official who retired following his arraignment earlier this month, both face charges of perjury and failing to tell police about former coach Jerry Sandusky's alleged crimes.
Sandusky, a former Penn State University defensive coordinator, faces 40 counts for purportedly sexually assaulting eight boys over a 15-year period.
Sandusky's preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 13, in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, following a series of delays.
The preliminary hearing for Curley and Schultz has been originally scheduled for December 6 but has been pushed to December 16, in Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Magisterial District Judge William Wenner, who arraigned Curley and Schultz in his courtroom on November 7, will preside in the preliminary hearing.
Curley and Schultz have denied the charges.
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)
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GENEVA (Reuters) ? A United Nations commission of inquiry said on Monday Syrian military and security forces had committed crimes against humanity including murder, torture and rape, and the government of President Bashar al-Assad bore responsibility.
The panel, which interviewed 223 victims and witnesses including defectors, called on Syria to halt "gross human rights violations," release prisoners rounded up in mass arrests and allow access to media, aid workers and rights monitors.
"The commission has concluded, based on its findings, that members of the Syrian army and security forces have committed crimes again humanity in their repression of a largely civilian population in the context of a peaceful protest movement," Paulo Pinheiro, chairman of the three-member panel, told a news conference.
The 39-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Council catalogues executions, torture, rapes including of children, arbitrary detentions and abductions carried out since March by Syrian forces quashing pro-democracy demonstrations while enjoying "systemic impunity" for their crimes.
"The commission therefore believes that orders to shoot and otherwise mistreat civilians originated from policies and directives issued at the highest levels of the armed forces and the government," it said.
More than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence, according to the United Nations, while activists say that up to 30,000 have been arrested, many kept in open-air stadiums.
"Reliable sources indicated that 256 children had been killed by state forces as of November 9," Pinheiro said.
One soldier testified that he had defected after witnessing the shooting of a two-year-old girl last August by an officer who said that "he did not want her to grow into a demonstrator."
The U.N. Security Council stopped short of taking action against Syria when China and Russia vetoed a resolution in October. After continuing international criticism of Assad's handling of the crisis, the Arab League approved sanctions against Syria on Sunday.
"The international community must act. More than ever it has a duty to stop the suffering of the civilian population," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement after the U.N. report was published.
In a written response included in the U.N. report, Syria's mission to the United Nations said Syria was standing against U.S. "policies of occupation" and blamed the violence on "terrorist operations carried out by armed outlaws who are terrorizing our citizens" and trying to "divide the country along sectarian lines and incite civil war."
CHILDREN TORTURED TO DEATH
Syria refused access to the U.N. investigators, saying it was carrying out its own inquiry. But the U.N. report pointed the finger squarely at the government of Assad.
"In the Syrian Arab Republic, the high toll of dead and injured is the result of the excessive use of force by state forces in many regions," it said.
It called for protecting the Syrian population and for an international embargo on arms sales to Syria.
There had been "isolated instances" of violence by demonstrators, but the "majority of civilians were killed in the context of peaceful demonstrations," it said.
Syrian forces have used snipers and tanks to suppress the uprising, it said.
"Defectors from the military and security forces told the commission that they had received orders to shoot at unarmed protesters without warning," the report said.
Some soldiers who disobeyed these orders were shot by the security forces or by army snipers, it said.
Cases were documented of injured people taken to hospital and beaten and tortured during interrogation, it said. "Children were also tortured, some to death."
The panel declined to say where they had interviewed survivors and defectors.
Yakin Erturk, a panel member from Turkey, said: "Non-access to Syria does not mean non-access to information. We had access to doctors reports, X-rays, video footage."
WORSHIP ASSAD INSTEAD OF GOD
Military and security forces used torture including electric shock and sexual torture, mainly on men and boys in custody, as a "tool to instill fear," the U.N. panel said.
"Testimonies were received from several men who stated that they had been anally raped with batons and that they had witnessed the rape of boys," it said.
"Detainees were also subjected to psychological torture, including sexual threats against them and their families, and by being forced to worship President al-Assad instead of their God," it said.
The inquiry, set up by the U.N. Human Rights Council last August, also called on the 47-member state forum to establish a special rapporteur or investigator on Syria.
The Geneva forum is expected to hold another special session on Syria, its third, on Friday, at the request of the European Union and other states, according to diplomats and U.N. sources.
(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Tom Miles and Peter Graff)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111128/wl_nm/us_syria_un
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Time Warner Cable has announced that its TWC app for Honeycomb tablets is now available in the Android Market. Compatible with any set-top box or DVR running the Time Warner "Navigator" program guide, the app doesn't allow live streaming of television shows but it has some pretty cool features. You can see seven days of TV listings, control and program your DVR through the app, search TV listings by title or episode name, and even use your tablet as a remote control for supported cable boxes and DVR's.
TWC says the app has been "certified" to run as intended on the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, but should work just fine with any tablet running Android 3.1 or higher. It's free in the Market, and you can find the download link after the break.
Source: TW Cable untangled, via BusinessWire
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/ApAwwy83H6E/story01.htm
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Not content with brandishing a medley of LTE-packed smartphones this season, Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo has confirmed a December release for Sharp's AQUOS SH-01D. While it lacks any 4G chops, the Android phone is cocooned in waterproof protection and packs a 12.1 megapixel camera on the back. An OMAP 4430 1GHz dual-core processor runs Gingerbread on the 3D-capable 1280 x 720 ASV display -- all crammed inside a waifish 9.7mm frame. Despite a recent visit to the FCC, there's no word on whether the water-defiant device will brave the Pacific ocean to arrive on these shores. However, any ex-patriots gasping for the SH-10D's potent screen will be able to grab one on December 2 and can unravel more specification mysteries in the Google-translated press release below.
Continue reading Sharp AQUOS SH-01D appears on NTT DoCoMo, offers up glasses-free 3D
Sharp AQUOS SH-01D appears on NTT DoCoMo, offers up glasses-free 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Mitt Romney is the target of a new Democratic National Party ad airing in six swing states. The ad portrays Mitt Romney taking different positions on immigration, abortion, health care, and other issues.
The Democratic National Committee is up with this web advertisement (in addition to a shorter 30-second bit in Virginia, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Wisconsin) highlighting what they see as Mitt Romney?s changes of heart on a variety of issues (from abortion to the President?s stimulus plan to recent ballot measures in Ohio) all interspersed with TV pundits and late-night talk show hosts taking aim at the GOP frontrunner.
Skip to next paragraphWhile Newt Gingrich has garnered headlines - and is in the lead for the GOP nomination, according to some polls ? the DNC still sees Romney as the Republican to beat.?
Of course, political history is a contested place. Just a few days ago, MItt Romney?s campaign?launched an ad targeting Obama for, among other things, saying ?If we keep talking about the economy, we?re going to lose.?
Unfortunately for the Romney campaign, Politifact rated that piece of the commercial thus: "Pants on Fire."
That?s because Obama was explicitly quoting then-opponent John McCain in his statement. Politifact writes:
"We certainly think it?s fair for Romney to attack Obama for his response to the economy. And the Romney camp can argue that Obama?s situation in 2011 is ironic considering the comments he made in 2008. But those points could have been made without distorting Obama?s words, which have been taken out of context in a ridiculously misleading way."
If you see any ?pants on fire? moments in this latest DNC ad, let Decoder know and we?ll note it in a subsequent post.
Go beyond:
Like your politics unscrambled? Check out DCDecoder.com
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WASHINGTON ? First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are in Chicago to attend funeral services for the city's former first lady.
Maggie Daley, the wife of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, died Thursday night. She was 68.
The Obamas have deep ties to Chicago. Michelle Obama was born and raised in the city, and President Barack Obama spent much of his adult life there. Bill Daley, the former mayor's brother, is the White House chief of staff.
The vice president is attending the funeral with his wife, Jill Biden.
The president released a statement following Daley's death, lauding her efforts on behalf of Chicago's children.
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WASHINGTON ? The New Hampshire Union Leader endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in Sunday editions, signaling that rival Mitt Romney isn't the universal favorite and that the state's largest newspaper could reset the contest there with six weeks to go before voters cast their ballots.
"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," the newspaper wrote in an editorial that was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.
"We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the newspaper continued.
Romney enjoys a solid leads in New Hampshire polls and remains at the front of the pack nationally. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas posted 12 percent support and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman found 8 percent support in that respected survey.
Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper with a conservative editorial page that proudly works to influence elections in the politically savvy state, from school boards to the White House.
"We don't have to agree with them on every issue," the newspaper wrote in an editorial that ran across the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."
While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, a sizeable pack of Republicans have shifted all year from candidate to candidate in search of an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. That led to the rise ? and fall ? of potential candidates such as Huntsman, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Yet with six weeks until New Hampshire voters cast their ballots, The Union Leader's move could shuffle the race there and give Gingrich another boost. In recent weeks, he has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans start to ask themselves: which candidate is best positioned to take on President Barack Obama?
As the public started tuning in, Gingrich kept posting solid debate performances and he found his stride on a national stage, the former Georgia lawmaker began rebuilding his campaign. In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway to lead his efforts and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day.
Hemingway's team of eight paid staffers in New Hampshire has been adding more than 100 volunteers each day, campaign officials said. Gingrich's team already has lined up leaders in the major cities and has started identifying representatives in each ward in the state.
Gingrich also has opened three offices in New Hampshire ? in Manchester, the state's biggest city; in Dover in the eastern part of the state; and in the North Country's Littleton ? and plans two more.
Gingrich hasn't yet begun television advertising and fastidiously refused to go negative on his opponents.
Yet The Union Leader's backing could give him a nudge in New Hampshire and provide a steady stream of criticism.
Four years earlier, the newspaper threw its support to Sen. John McCain's bid and used Page One opinion columns and editorials to boost him ? and criticize Romney. In the time since, Romney has worked to court Union Leader Publisher Joe McQuaid, who often publishes columns on the newspaper's front page under his signature.
"The Union Leader's style is we don't just endorse once," McQuaid told The Washington Post in 1999. "We endorse every damn day. We started endorsing Reagan in 1975 and never stopped."
Romney and his wife, Ann, had dinner with the McQuaids at the Bedford Village Inn near Manchester, hoping to reset the relationship earlier this year. Yet it didn't prove enough and McQuaid's newspaper seemed not to appreciate the outreach.
"Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate," the editorial said. "But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running."
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Cee Lo Green, Jason DeRulo, Sean Kingston joined them for the gig.
By Gil Kaufman
Fergie and will.i.am perform at the Black Eyed Peas' final concert in Miami on Thursday
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images
The Black Eyed Peas had a lot to be thankful for on Thursday, namely, a major break from nearly non-stop touring and recording. The multiplatinum group announced before their show on Wednesday night at Miami's Sun Life Stadium that they were going on indefinite hiatus to work on other projects.
"Tonight is our graduation. It's a very special night for all of us," singer Fergie announced at the gig. "We're so thankful to be sharing this night together." The band didn't go into the good night all alone, though, as they packed the show with appearances from a number of pals, including T-Pain, Sean Kingston, Cee Lo Green, Jason DeRulo and Queen Latifah.
The past 10 months have been action packed for the hip-pop act, as they played the Super Bowl halftime show in February, recorded a video for Japanese tsunami relief in March and played the iHeartRadio Festival in July. They were slated to perform at the Michael Jackson Forever tribute concert in Cardiff, Wales, last month, but scratched at the last minute due to "unavoidable circumstances."
They made it official with an appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Wednesday morning, during which Will said that they "always have two cycles of records and then we take a break." He explained that the quartet has lasted this long because they often take breaks to work on solo projects and get their personal lives in order and then come back and "make beautiful music."
It's not like the Peas will be off the map entirely after three years of touring in support of The Beginning and The E.N.D. will.i.am just released a new single from his upcoming solo album, #willpower, featuring Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger, entitled "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)." Taboo plans to spend more time with his family and promote his book, "Falling Up," while apl.de.ap will reportedly focus on being an education ambassador in the Philippines and Fergie will do more solo recording and perhaps start a family.
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674955/black-eyed-peas-hiatus-miami-concert.jhtml
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TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan wants Europe to make efforts to stabilize markets unsettled by the continued euro zone debt crisis and Tokyo is prepared to offer help if needed, Japanese currency tsar Takehiko Nakao said on Monday.
Nakao, the vice finance minister for international affairs also told a financial forum that a unilateral currency intervention could not be ruled out in a speculative market.
Tokyo has intervened to weaken its yen three times this year - once with the help of Group of Seven nations in March and then on its own in August and October when the yen scaled new highs against the dollar.
(Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Backdropped by the Atlantic Ocean, the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Friday Nov. 25, 2011. Atop the rocket is NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover nicknamed Curiosity enclosed in its payload fairing. Liftoff is planned during a launch window which extends from 10:02 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. EST on Saturday Nov. 26. Curiosity, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and will help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. (AP Photo/NASA
In this 2011 artist's rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of its arm, which extends about 2 meters (7 feet). The mobile robot is designed to investigate Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A rover of "monster truck" proportions zoomed toward Mars on an 8?-month, 354 million-mile journey Saturday, the biggest, best equipped robot ever sent to explore another planet.
NASA's six-wheeled, one-armed wonder, Curiosity, will reach Mars next summer and use its jackhammer drill, rock-zapping laser machine and other devices to search for evidence that Earth's next-door neighbor might once have been home to the teeniest forms of life.
More than 13,000 invited guests jammed the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday morning to witness NASA's first launch to Mars in four years, and the first flight of a Martian rover in eight years.
Mars fever gripped the crowd.
NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, wore a bright blue, short-sleeve blouse emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!" She jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the Atlas V rocket blasted off. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's laser blaster, called ChemCam.
Surrounded by 50 U.S. and French members of his team, Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared into a cloudy sky. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.
A few miles away at the space center's visitor complex, Lego teamed up with NASA for a toy spacecraft-building event for children this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The irresistible lure: 800,000 Lego bricks.
The 1-ton Curiosity ? 10 feet tall, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast ? is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and with unprecedented skill, analyze them right on the spot.
It's as big as a car. But NASA's Mars exploration program director calls it "the monster truck of Mars."
"It's an enormous mission. It's equivalent of three missions, frankly, and quite an undertaking," said the ecstatic program director, Doug McCuistion. "Science fiction is now science fact. We're flying to Mars. We'll get it on the ground and see what we find."
The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time ? or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.
Curiosity's 7-foot arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras.
With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.
No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated.
The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.
Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.
"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."
Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.
In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.
Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.
Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.
Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen from among more than 50 potential landing sites because it's so rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it may well be there.
The rover should go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.
NASA expects to put at least 12 miles on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.
McCuistion anticipates being blown away by the never-before-seen vistas. "Those first images are going to just be stunning, I believe. It will be like sitting in the bottom of the Grand Canyon," he said at a post-launch news conference.
This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.
Unlike Juno and Grail, Curiosity suffered development programs and came in two years late and nearly $1 billion over budget. Scientists involved in the project noted Saturday that the money is being spent on Earth, not Mars, and the mission is costing every American about the price of a movie.
"I'll leave you to judge for yourself whether or not that's a movie you'd like to see," said California Institute of Technology's John Grotzinger, the project scientist. "I know that's one I would."
___
Online:
NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
Lego: http://legospace.com/
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