The rover will have the largest array of scientific instruments to be taken to Mars.

BBC: Mars robots begin test campaign

He teaches at Cornell University, and like a lot of planetary astronomers, he dreamed of sending scientific instruments to Mars.

NPR: Mars Rover Marks Second Anniversary of Landing

Moreover, the Curiosity rover, which is equipped with 11 scientific instruments to probe for conditions suitable for life, isn't designed to detect the signs of microbial activity or any traces of fossilized bacteria.

WSJ: Scientists Say Microbial Life Was Possible on Mars

While the aircraft has flown before, this was the first flight for it after being loaded up with eleven different scientific instruments, which will be used to examine trace gases, aerosols, and dynamics of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.

ENGADGET: NASA's unmanned Global Hawk completes key test flight

Its three scientific instruments would probe cosmic rays and clouds to test current models of climate change.

BBC: UK seeks to go it alone in space

In all, the plutonium-powered, six-wheeled Curiosity carries 10 scientific instruments, including an analytical laboratory, to process mineral and sediment samples.

WSJ: NASA's Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars

It is packed with scientific instruments such as a miniaturised camera, an infra-red spectrometer and sensors to measure solar wind and other electrical currents.

ECONOMIST: Astronomy

In contrast, the early scientific and technological achievements of Asia were not wedded to great enterprises or great purposes but remained largely clever instruments to be admired.

CNN: Building On A Golden Age

But the instruments confer a stamp of scientific precision on a judgment that psychologists have proved ill-equipped to make.

NEWYORKER: The Science of Sex Abuse