NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, which is scheduled to touch down on the Red Planet on August 6, is the most advanced robot ever sent to another world.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 6, NASA and space enthusiasts across the world will be able to monitor the Mars landing of the most advanced robot ever to be sent to another world.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

Named Curiosity, the robot or rover has been heading toward Mars for nearly eight months. The landing is scheduled for 1:31 a.m. EDT.

Is it crazy? Not so much, said Doug McCuistion, the director of the Mars Exploration Program. Is it risky? Landing on Mars is always risky. Every landing is unique. Every landing is like a first.

At a news conference Monday, NASA scientists said they were looking for evidence that life existed on Mars billions of years ago. This evidence could include indicators of water, sources of energy or sources of carbon all of which are essential to sustain life.

Curiosity was launched into space last Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rover will go from 13,000 mph to zero in seven minutes, and will land in Gale Crater, which NASA scientists think held water billions of years ago.

In the middle of Gale is Mount Sharp, a mountain thats taller than any in the Lower 48 U.S. states, said John Grotzinger, a NASA scientist whos working on the mission. Curiosity will explore the crater and the mountain, looking for clues of life.

I see it as an extraordinary opportunity to get a bearing on our own existence on Earth, Grotzinger said. Ascending Mount Sharp, were going to go through the major eras in the history of Mars that give us the basis for comparison to our own planet.

Read this article:

NASA hopes Mars rover landing will be 'grand and profound'