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Originally Posted by Nehkara
3. Honestly its power source is almost the most important thing about the rover. It uses a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) for power, rather than solar panels. This is very important. This means the rover can operate day and night, in all seasons, and during/after dust storms. The previous rovers operated mostly during the day and had to park for the entire winter. Curiosity will be able to operate at full capacity at all points in time. The RTG also produces waste heat, which the rover uses to warm its instruments (rather than using precious power like the other rovers had to). Most importantly (in my mind), the RTG has a MINIMUM expected life of 14 years. It is kind of a strange thought but there is a decent possibility that this rover will still be operating when we land people on Mars.
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RTGs aren't something new, so I'm not sure why this is a bigger deal than other stuff about this. All the deep space probes sent out use them, and the more recent probes like Cassini, Galileo and New Horizons use larger RTGs than Curiosity. Voyager 1 has been sending signals for 34 years straight.