Curiosity Mars rover hammers into rock

Although previous rovers have scrubbed the surface of rocks, Curiosity is the first to carry the capability to drill inside them.

via megalextoria.com

Mars Rover Curiosity Beams Home 1st Color Panorama of Red Planet

Curiosity, which is also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, successfully touched down on Mars on Sunday (Aug. 5 PDT), and has already snapped a flurry of photos, including sweeping black-and-white and color images of the Martian landscape and a self-portrait. In a news briefing today (Aug. 9), NASA released images and video of Curiosity’s first color panorama view, a mosaic taken on the rover’s third full day on Mars, which mission managers refer to as Sol 3.

via megalextoria.com

NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars

In an unparalleled technological triumph, a one-ton nuclear-powered rover the size of a small car was lowered to the surface of Mars on the end of a 25-foot-long bridle suspended from the belly of a rocket-powered flying crane late Sunday to kick off an unprecedented $2.5 billion mission.

via megalextoria.com

They did it! I am duly impressed...

Less Than a Week Remains Before NASA's Biggest Rover Yet Lands on Mars

When Curiosity reaches Mars, the 1-ton rover will be lowered to the surface by a rocket-powered sky crane. This complex contraption will help slow the spacecraft’s speed from roughly 13,200 mph (about 21,250 kilometers per hour) to zero in only seven minutes. This sequence of events is officially known as entry, descent and landing, but its nail-biting nature has earned it the nickname “seven minutes of terror.”

via megalextoria.com

This landing will be very impressive...if it works.

NASA's Newest Mars Rover Is Biggest and Best Yet

When NASA’s newest rover, Curiosity, reaches Mars in about three weeks, it will not be the first to set its wheels on the Red Planet, but it will be the largest and most advanced robotic explorer that has ever been sent to our planetary neighbor.

via megalextoria.com

I've said it before, but I will be very impressed if they manage to pull this landing off. Can't wait! - http://1010608b.tinylinks.co

Huge Mars Rover's Landing Will Be '7 Minutes of Terror'

On the night of Aug. 5, the MSL spacecraft will hit the Martian atmosphere going about 13,000 mph (21,000 kph). As it barrels through the Red Planet air, MSL’s heat shield will literally glow, reaching temperatures of about 2,900 degrees Fahrenheit (1,600 degrees Celsius).

The relatively thin Martian atmosphere will slow MSL down to only 1,000 mph (1,600 kph) or so, Rivellini said. So the spacecraft will also deploy a parachute, one that can withstand 65,000 pounds (29,500 kilograms) of force despite weighing just 100 pounds (45 kg) itself.

But even the parachute won’t be enough.

“This big huge parachute that we’ve got, it’ll only slow us down to about 200 miles per hour,” Rivellini said. “And that’s not slow enough to land. So we have no choice, but we’ve got to cut it off and then come down on rockets.”

The rockets can’t fire all the way to the ground, however, or they’d raise a huge dust cloud that could damage the rover’s instruments and mechanisms, researchers said. To avoid such a ruckus, Curiosity will be lowered to the Martian surface on 21-foot-long (6.4 meters) cables. When the rover is safely down, the cables will be released and the rocket-propelled sky crane will fly off so it doesn’t crash into Curiosity.

The 14-minute communications lag between Earth and Mars means that the MSL team won’t be getting real-time updates about the rover’s perilous journey.

“When we first get word that we’ve touched the top of the atmosphere, the vehicle has been alive, or dead, on the surface for at least seven minutes,” Steltzner said.

via megalextoria.com

If this works, I will be VERY impressed...