NASA's Curiosity rover begins epic drive to Mount Sharp

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun its first big road trip, a long journey that will see it traverse the Red Planet landscape over the next year. With drives on July 4 and July 7, the nuclear-powered, six-wheel Curiosity rover has departed its lastscience target in the "Glenelg" area and commenced a many-month overland journey to the base of the mission's main destination, Mount Sharp, NASA officials said. The one-tonne rover finished close-up investigation of a target sedimentary outcrop called"Shaler" last week. On July 4, it drove 18 meters away from Shaler. On July 7, a second drive added another 40 meters on the trip toward a destination about 8 kilometres away, the entry to the lower layers of Mount Sharp.