Sensor on Mars Rover to Measure Radiation Environment

The Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD, instrument (right) will aid future human missions to Mars by providing information about the radiation environment on Mars. It's one of 10 science instruments for the Mars Curiosity rover (depicted in the artist's concept on the left).About eight months before the NASA rover Curiosity touches down on Mars in August 2012, the mission's science measurements will begin much closer to Earth...

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI