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Minn. Scientist Waiting To Inhale Air From Mars

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- How's the air on Mars? A Minnesota scientist hopes to find out, soon.

Heidi Manning, a physics professor at Concordia College in Moorhead, helped develop an instrument aboard the Mars rover that will take samples and identify chemicals on the red planet.

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She's hoping the device will be activated in the next few days.

"We're going to get our first breath of martian air, and be able to analyze that and really precisely know the composition and the chemical makeup of that air that surrounds Mars," she said.

Manning is on sabbatical and plans to spend the next year analyzing the info sent back from Curiosity.

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