Obama congratulates NASA's Mars Curiosity rover team over telephone

Washington, Aug 14 (ANI): US President Barack Obama congratulated the NASA's Mars Curiosity rover team, saying that they had made America 'proud'.

"You made us all proud. What you've accomplished embodies the American spirit," Obama said.

Obama telephoned the mission control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California (USA), to congratulate JPL Director Charles Elachi and the Mars Science Laboratory team operating the rover, which landed on Mars a week ago.

"Our expectation is that Curiosity is going to be telling us things we did not know before and laying the groundwork for an even more audacious undertaking in the future, and that's a human mission to Mars," he added.

Obama said Curiosity's landing advances his goals of improving education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

"This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country. They're telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars," the president said.

The rover team has completed three of the four days of activities needed for transitioning Curiosity's two main computers to a version of software suited for the rover's work on the surface of Mars, which would include driving and using tools on a robotic arm.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Elachi also thanked Obama for the call, adding, "Hopefully we inspire some of the millions of young people who were watching the landing." (ANI)