BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- NASA has held a televised news conference to update media on the progress of its rover mission on Mars. Curiosity, dispatched to study if the Red Planet could have hosted life took its first test drive on Wednesday.

The one-ton, nuclear-powered robotic geologist, which landed inside a Martian crater on August 6th, got instructions for a 30-minute drive. It travelled about 3 meters, then drove back to its landing site, ending up at a 90-degree angle from where it touched down inside Gale Crater.

Scientists say Curiosity’s next destination is Mount Sharp, which is 8 kilometers away. It will take about a year for the rover to arrive. However, determining how Mount Sharp formed might be a little more difficult with the loss of one of Curiosity’s two wind sensors, designed to measure the speed and direction of the planet’s often unpredictable breezes.

The rover is equipped with 10 science instruments to search for organic materials and other minerals needed to support and possibly preserve microbial life.

(Source: CNTV.cn)