Rover 1st: Human voice sent back from Mars

NASA says its Mars Curiosity rover has broadcast the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back. Congratulatory remarks by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to NASA employees and the agency's commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity were radioed to the rover, which then transmitted them back to Earth, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Monday. "Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future," Bolden said in the recorded message. In addition to the voice playback, new telephoto camera views of the varied Martian landscape were unveiled during a news conference at JPL. The telephoto images taken by the rover's Mast Camera show a scene of erosion and gulches on the slope of the nearby mountain called Mount Sharp, with geological layering clearly exposed. "This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go," Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, said. "Those layers are our ultimate objective. This is a very rich geological site to look at and eventually to drive through."