Cidersomerset
26th November 2011, 13:06
http://media.trb.com/media/photo/2011-11/66327230.jpg
This artist's conception depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface on Mars in this NASA publicity photograph released to Reuters November 23, 2011. (HANDOUT, Reuters Photo / November 23, 2011)
By Mark K. Matthews, Washington Bureau
12:11 a.m. EST, November 26, 2011
WASHINGTON — At 10:02 a.m. today from Cape Canaveral, NASA plans to launch to Mars what would be the biggest and baddest robot ever to land on another planet: an SUV-sized rover nicknamed "Curiosity" that comes equipped with a "rock-zapping" laser.
Like Spirit and Opportunity, the two smaller rovers sent to Mars in 2004, Curiosity is designed to investigate the Martian surface for evidence that the planet ever could have supported life.
But Curiosity is a rover on steroids.
Ten feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at the top of its mast, the nuclear-powered vehicle is equipped with six-wheel drive that allows it to run over obstacles as tall as 2 feet. And Curiosity sports a top-mounted laser that can zap rocks from 23 feet away to see what chemicals pop from the spark.
Video: Time Lapse shows Disney's holiday nights light up Cinderella Castle
"It's not your father's rover," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars program. "It's truly … the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet."
During its two-year mission, Curiosity will roam the Martian surface — at one-tenth of a mile per hour — looking for signs that Mars ever could have supported microbial life. Formally named the Mars Science Laboratory, its 10 packages of instruments will enable it to analyze rocks and dirt, looking especially for what scientists call "organic compounds."
These carbon-based compounds, such as methane, are essential to life as we know it, and their discovery would be a major find.
"We kind of [would] consider that a science home run," said Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is the mission's deputy project scientist.
To find these compounds, Curiosity has cameras to survey the landscape, a robotic arm that can grab rocks and drill into them, and an array of onboard laboratory equipment to examine the samples.
"The crowning achievement … is to drill into rocks and capture material from the insides of rocks, which we've never done on Mars, and that's really where the science will come from," Vasavada added.
Curiosity is aimed at an area scientists say is rich with potential: a massive crater near Mars' equator that has a 3-mile-high mountain rising from the center of it.
Not only does the Gale Crater (named after Australian astronomer Walter Gale) show signs of having water in its past — key in astronomers' minds to discovering life — but the mountain's rocky face is striated in layers, much like the Grand Canyon, that scientists hope will display 3 billion years of geological history.
"Probably the entire early history of Mars is here for us," Vasavada said.
But before Curiosity does any exploring, it first has to get there. And that's never easy.
Fewer than half of about three dozen Mars missions have succeeded since Russia, then the Soviet Union, first tried in 1960. Indeed, a Russian Mars probe launched two weeks ago is still stuck in Earth orbit.
Curiosity is scheduled to launch this morning aboard an Atlas V rocket to start its 354 million-mile journey to Mars. A crowd of 13,500 invited guests is expected to watch liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
There will be a little extra drama because Curiosity holds 10.6 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium, which NASA said is securely encased in protective layers in case of a launch accident. Nuclear power was chosen over the solar arrays of previous rovers because of Curiosity's bigger workload.
There will be extra anxiety involving the landing as well.
Sometime in August, Curiosity — encased in an Apollo-like capsule — will enter the Martian atmosphere. After surviving temperatures as hot as 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the capsule will deploy a parachute at seven miles up and jettison the heat shield.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20111125/169028607.html
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/100859/nasa-in-high-gear-for-mars-rover-launch
PvXjJ9hNmsU[COLOR="red"]
Cheers Steve[COLOR="red"]
This artist's conception depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of a rock surface on Mars in this NASA publicity photograph released to Reuters November 23, 2011. (HANDOUT, Reuters Photo / November 23, 2011)
By Mark K. Matthews, Washington Bureau
12:11 a.m. EST, November 26, 2011
WASHINGTON — At 10:02 a.m. today from Cape Canaveral, NASA plans to launch to Mars what would be the biggest and baddest robot ever to land on another planet: an SUV-sized rover nicknamed "Curiosity" that comes equipped with a "rock-zapping" laser.
Like Spirit and Opportunity, the two smaller rovers sent to Mars in 2004, Curiosity is designed to investigate the Martian surface for evidence that the planet ever could have supported life.
But Curiosity is a rover on steroids.
Ten feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at the top of its mast, the nuclear-powered vehicle is equipped with six-wheel drive that allows it to run over obstacles as tall as 2 feet. And Curiosity sports a top-mounted laser that can zap rocks from 23 feet away to see what chemicals pop from the spark.
Video: Time Lapse shows Disney's holiday nights light up Cinderella Castle
"It's not your father's rover," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars program. "It's truly … the largest and most complex piece of equipment ever placed on the surface of another planet."
During its two-year mission, Curiosity will roam the Martian surface — at one-tenth of a mile per hour — looking for signs that Mars ever could have supported microbial life. Formally named the Mars Science Laboratory, its 10 packages of instruments will enable it to analyze rocks and dirt, looking especially for what scientists call "organic compounds."
These carbon-based compounds, such as methane, are essential to life as we know it, and their discovery would be a major find.
"We kind of [would] consider that a science home run," said Ashwin Vasavada of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who is the mission's deputy project scientist.
To find these compounds, Curiosity has cameras to survey the landscape, a robotic arm that can grab rocks and drill into them, and an array of onboard laboratory equipment to examine the samples.
"The crowning achievement … is to drill into rocks and capture material from the insides of rocks, which we've never done on Mars, and that's really where the science will come from," Vasavada added.
Curiosity is aimed at an area scientists say is rich with potential: a massive crater near Mars' equator that has a 3-mile-high mountain rising from the center of it.
Not only does the Gale Crater (named after Australian astronomer Walter Gale) show signs of having water in its past — key in astronomers' minds to discovering life — but the mountain's rocky face is striated in layers, much like the Grand Canyon, that scientists hope will display 3 billion years of geological history.
"Probably the entire early history of Mars is here for us," Vasavada said.
But before Curiosity does any exploring, it first has to get there. And that's never easy.
Fewer than half of about three dozen Mars missions have succeeded since Russia, then the Soviet Union, first tried in 1960. Indeed, a Russian Mars probe launched two weeks ago is still stuck in Earth orbit.
Curiosity is scheduled to launch this morning aboard an Atlas V rocket to start its 354 million-mile journey to Mars. A crowd of 13,500 invited guests is expected to watch liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
There will be a little extra drama because Curiosity holds 10.6 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium, which NASA said is securely encased in protective layers in case of a launch accident. Nuclear power was chosen over the solar arrays of previous rovers because of Curiosity's bigger workload.
There will be extra anxiety involving the landing as well.
Sometime in August, Curiosity — encased in an Apollo-like capsule — will enter the Martian atmosphere. After surviving temperatures as hot as 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the capsule will deploy a parachute at seven miles up and jettison the heat shield.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20111125/169028607.html
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/100859/nasa-in-high-gear-for-mars-rover-launch
PvXjJ9hNmsU[COLOR="red"]
Cheers Steve[COLOR="red"]