The beige-granite counter is a hard surface for craft projects, and a cupboard holds paints and crayons.

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Surface tension in the water can sling the craft out of control or cause it to bounce violently.

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That would leave a small, mobile craft that could maneuver on thrusters alone, hover near the surface, and lower the rover down.

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Now, using a camera onboard an orbiting probe called Mars Global Surveyor, scientists think they may have spotted something on the surface of Mars that is a good candidate for the remains of this NASA craft.

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Based on the Phoenix lander, the craft is tasked with giving us a peek beneath the planet's surface, armed with tools that include a geodetic instrument from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which will be used to calculate Mars' rotation axis, a seismic wave sensor and a subsurface heat probe, to measure the planet's internal temperature.

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Next, we are going to have our guys fly to the surface and back in a ship made of foil, then somehow dock with the orbiting craft, none of which has been tested in lunar orbit, fire another engine blast and get home, again without any steering, power or otherwise.

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In its seven-minute descent, the Curiosity craft must brake from 13, 200 miles per hour to a gentle stop on the Martian surface.

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