Russian DAN (Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons) device, developed for studying water ice in soils of the Red planet, arrived to the USA, where it will be installed onboard the heavy Mars rover “Mars Science Laboratory”.
      
      Next September the rover will head for Mars and softly land on its surface. DAN device significantly differs from HEND () device, created in the same laboratory, which successfully works onboard “Mars Odyssey” for over seven years.
      
      DAN device exploits “neutron pump” for bombarding Mars’s surface with neutron beam. Then the device registers the flow of secondary neutrons and allows estimating presence of water ice in Martian soils and its layered structure.
      
      New Mars rover (DAN’s host) will be much larger than previous rovers and is expected to “live” for one Martian year (two Earth years). Self-moving laboratory will “walk” for about 20 kilomeres to make necessary measurements.
      
      Source: Science News