U.S. rover landing on Mars to be live broadcast

 WASHINGTON, July 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. space agency NASA on Tuesday confirmed its most advanced planetary rover, Curiosity will land on the Martian surface at 1:31 a.m. EDT (0531 GMT) on Aug. 6 and the landing process will be broadcast live from Times Square, New York City.

Programming will originate from Mission Control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's in California, but there will be lag as it takes 14 minutes for radio signals on Mars to travel to Earth, warned NASA.

The six-wheeled rover, weighing about one tonne, dwarfs¹ all previous robots sent to the surface of the Mars. It is about twice as long and more than five times as heavy as any previous Mars rover. It has been equipped with 10 science instruments, including two for ingesting and analyzing² samples of powdered rock delivered by the rover's robotic arm.

The rover is on a precise course for a landing beside a Martian mountain to begin two years of unprecedented³ scientific detective work, according to NASA.

During a prime mission lasting⁴ one Martian year -- nearly two Earth years -- researchers will use the rover's tools to study whether the landing region has had environmental conditions favorable for supporting microbial life and favorable for preserving clues about whether life existed.

1 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

2 analyzing   

v.分析；分析( analyze的现在分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析n.分析

参考例句：

• Analyzing the date of some socialist countries presents even greater problem s. 分析某些社会主义国家的统计数据，暴露出的问题甚至更大。 来自辞典例句
• He undoubtedly was not far off the mark in analyzing its predictions. 当然，他对其预测所作的分析倒也八九不离十。 来自辞典例句

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。