[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English, this is In the News.
[00:08.790]This week marks the first anniversary of a major exploration effort on Mars.
[00:16.200]It has been 12 months since the exploration device called "Curiosity" landed on the distant planet.
[00:25.400]Curiosity is named for the human condition of wanting to learn or know something.
[00:33.360]The United States space agency, NASA, says Curiosity has driven more than 1.6 kilometers on Mars.
[00:44.080]The device, called a "rover," is about the size of a car.
[00:49.990]Curiosity has found evidence of an ancient riverbed and other signs of wet conditions.
[00:58.990]NASA scientists say that with these discoveries, Curiosity has answered the question of whether conditions on ancient Mars could have supported life.
[01:13.050]Jim Green leads the planetary division at NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
[01:19.750]"We found all the ingredients of life as measured in this material that's deposited in this ancient riverbed.
[01:27.910]Mars was habitable in its past."
[01:32.080]Curiosity is a traveling laboratory that contains 10 scientific instruments.
[01:40.030]The rover has found hydrogen, oxygen and other elements necessary for life.
[01:47.570]The space agency says Curiosity has fired more than 75,000 laser shots.
[01:55.890]The laser turns rocks and soil into gas.
[02:01.210]The equipment on Curiosity then examines and identifies the materials on the Martian surface.
[02:10.600]Curiosity has sent back more than 70,000 images that give a new understanding of Earth's neighboring planet.
[02:21.630]Curiosity's findings will help set future Mars exploration.
[02:28.270]NASA's Jim Green says the next mission will be launched in 2020.
[02:34.990]"Knowing that Mars was an environment that was habitable in its past,
[02:39.470]we're going to start seeking the signs of potential life that could have existed on Mars.
[02:46.200]And that, if we could answer that question, will change everything."
[02:51.190]Space scientists chose to explore Mars instead of other planets because of the Red Planet's similarities with our own.
[03:01.720]NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says Mars is the most Earth-like planet in our solar system.
[03:10.450]"If life exists beyond Earth, and I am one who believes that it may very well,
[03:15.530]Mars, for me, is the most likely place that that life will be found."
[03:20.310]Mr. Bolden spoke at an event to mark Curiosity's first year of exploring Mars.
[03:27.570]Curiosity is traveling in the low area called Gale Crater, where it landed last year.
[03:35.850]The crater was formed by an asteroid that hit Mars long ago.
[03:42.130]It is a deep, 150-kilometer-wide area similar to a valley or canyon on Earth.
[03:51.020]Curiosity is moving toward the area called Mount Sharp.
[03:57.080]NASA scientists plan for the device to study the lower levels of that Martian mountain.
[04:05.460]It will search for clues about how the planet has changed over time.
[04:11.690]The rover will also search for a type of soil called "clay." Curiosity has found clay minerals on Mars.
[04:22.360]Clay is evidence of once wet conditions on the planet.
[04:28.320]Curiosity was designed to work for two years, but it could go on exploring and sending information back to Earth much longer.
[04:41.700]And that's In the News from VOA Learning English.