My kitty, Keelor, is still going strong at 17 (knock on wood). He came from a litter of four, one of whom died when he was only a few months old. His sister was euthanized just last year at 16, but his other brother died at a relatively young age (around 10, if I remember correctly) from necrotizing pancreatitis.
X-band radio waves used by the rover to communicate. The rover communicates with the orbiters and the DSN through radio waves. They communicate with each other through X-band, which are radio waves at a much higher frequency than radio waves used for FM stations. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
The spacecraft design for the Mars Science Laboratory mission is based largely on the successful twin Viking landers sent to Mars in the 1970s. The rover design is based on the Mars Exploration Rovers, which landed on Mars in early 2004. The system for entry, descent, and landing is entirely new.