"We taught [Curiosity] everything we know, we did everything we could for it, but now it has to find its own path," says a member of NASA's Mars Rover mission in GQ's recent tribute video.
NASA employees Allen Chen, Ann Devereaux, Miguel San Martin, and Adam Steltzner narrate footage of Curiosity's quest with reverence and speak of the rover as if it was their child, an extension of their humanity.
"We get to see her in images she takes of herself, but we won't ever touch her again, and we won't ever be able to fix her again," one narrator confides with in the audience, intoned with a mixture of pride and sadness.
Curiosity landed on the Red Planet on August 6 on a mission to assess Mars' soil and environmental conditions. It's ultimate goal is Glenelg, the nexus of three different types of terrain that the rover's vast array of tools will examine.
Preparations for the mission have been in the works for years.
"After focusing all our lives for eight years for this event that lasted minutes, you know, that is the biggest, the strongest thing emotionally for us."
In other Curiosity news, a dust storm is expected on Mars which may impede the rover's visibility.
NASA chief Mars scientists Rich Zurek notes, "For the first time since the Viking missions of the 1970s, we are studying a regional dust storm both from orbit and with a weather station on the surface. One thing we want to learn is why do some Martian dust storms get to this size and stop growing, while others this size keep growing and go global."
Check back with Latinos Post for the latest Curiosity mission updates.