Curiosity Rover on Mars

[AndyDufresne]

Will the title remain "lands on mars" for the whole 2 year mission, or periodically updated as new things develop?

IcePack

Who am I, Phatscotty? Always changing titles?!?!

Maybe I'll update it.


--Andy

[IcePack]

Will the title remain "lands on mars" for the whole 2 year mission, or periodically updated as new things develop?

IcePack

Who am I, Phatscotty? Always changing titles?!?!

Maybe I'll update it.


--Andy

I didn't check back in cuz I thought you were still discussing the landing :p
Little did I know color photos had been received!

You're letting me down it should be like a newspaper headline for the rover

[Neoteny]

"Curiosity Rover Shoots Laser at Rocks"

"Curiosity Rover Wiggles Wheels"

"Curiosity Rover has Morning Wood"

"Curiosity Rover Notices That It's Fucking Cold Out Here and Requests an Earthbound Pickup Immediately"

I like the thread, and think some of these titles have potential.

[ender516]

I can deal with 28 degrees Farenheit.

Sure, but if you go out at night, take a sweater. (-131 F? Sheesh...)

[Gillipig]

I don't know why this has completely slipped my mind. I like these sort of things. I think the problem is I don't know what they're looking for/ investigating now.

[IcePack]

I don't know why this has completely slipped my mind. I like these sort of things. I think the problem is I don't know what they're looking for/ investigating now.

Space exploration is just mans never ending qwest to see new and previously unknown to them boob. It drives everything mankind does.

IcePack

[Gillipig]

I don't know why this has completely slipped my mind. I like these sort of things. I think the problem is I don't know what they're looking for/ investigating now.

Space exploration is just mans never ending qwest to see new and previously unknown to them boob. It drives everything mankind does.

IcePack

Not talking generally here but speficically. Also I don't know if I agree with that theory lol.

[greenoaks]

why does the ground temp vary more than the air temp ?

[AndyDufresne]

Check out this video put together from HD resolution photos that have come in now since the landing. You may have previously seen an ultra-low resolution choppy version of this video, but this higher resolution one looks pretty sweet.


Visual effects dab-hand, Daniel Luke Fitch, has used the more recently available HD frames of the descent to make this jaw-dropping movie. As he explains, it runs at 15 frames a second, which represents a speed-up of real events by 3 times. So the actual descent was not quite as ferocious, but it was pretty darn close.

Early on, at around the 2-3 second mark, and again at 0:08 you can see the diffuse glow of what I think must be atmospheric and dust reflection of sunlight. The final drop happens at around 0:33.



Additionally, check out Curiosity's arm extension test:

show: BW Photo, Arm Extension

show: BW Photo, Test Drive

--Andy

[thegreekdog]

That is so cool.

I actually turned my music off on my computer as if I was expecting there to be volume.

[ender516]

Über-cool!

I would guess that the ground temperature rises and falls with the sun, while the air exchanges heat indirectly via the ground and never quite catches up to the swings.

[AndyDufresne]

Here are some additional photos showing the previous test drive:

show: BW Photos, Test Driving

show: And For Size Reference

--Andy

[KoolBak]

Wow....didn't realize how big it is! So cool.......

Thanks Banana-Boy!!

[AndyDufresne]

Wow....didn't realize how big it is! So cool.......

Thanks Banana-Boy!!

Check out the first post, where there is a size comparison of the past rovers, it is pretty cool. This rover was so big and heavy, that is why they had to develop the brand new EDL (entry, descent, landing) scheme (also described in the first post), instead of just using say giant airbags like NASA has used in the past.


--Andy

[ender516]

I saw a model of this rover in person a few years back and was impressed by its size then. It's great that the mission is going so well.

[AndyDufresne]

NASA will be holding another news conference later today (at 5 PM Eastern), so we'll probably have some good updates for tomorrow. But until then, you can check out this nifty photo below.

show: Color Stitched and Modified Mosaic Photo, Partial Rover Self-Portrait

--Andy

[ender516]

Say, wouldn't it be great to see some of the shots from the stereo navigation cameras converted for viewing on a Nintendo 3DS? It can display 3D stills and 3D video. I would love a pilot's-eye view of a jaunt across the surface!

[AndyDufresne]

Courtesy of the recent NASA news conference regarding the Mars Rover:

show: Color Photo, Mount Sharp

show: Color Photo, Mount Sharp No. 2

show: Color Photo, Panorama

show: BW Photo, Second Drive

--Andy

[BigBallinStalin]

Great PR for NASA. Maybe this'll justify expanding their budget.

[AndyDufresne]

And in case you missed this gem of a side-note story from the NY Times Art Beats:

New Will.i.am Song Broadcast From Mars
August 28, 2012, 4:34 pm

In the first-ever planet-to-planet music broadcast, NASA’s Mars rover, Curiosity, beamed a new song by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas to Earth on Tuesday, playing an mp3 file to an audience of engineers and students at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

“Why do they say the sky is the limit when I’ve seen the footprints on the moon?” Will.i.am sings in the song, “Reach for the Stars,” which made its solar system premiere after a 330-million-mile trip, from Earth to Mars and back again. (Alas, any nearby Martians were out of luck: the rover does not have speakers to broadcast music to its surrounding landscape, and the thin Martian air would have distorted the sound.)

The song debut, part of Will.i.am’s efforts to cheerlead for science and mathematics education, did not require any advances in space technology, but perhaps reflected a more media-savvy approach by the space agency in making its work seem glamorous. The singer was among a parade of celebrities who descended on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Aug. 5 to watch Curiosity, an automobile-sized mobile science laboratory, touch down on Mars; others included the actor Morgan Freeman, the director Barry Sonnenfeld, the comedian Seth Green and the actress Nichelle Nichols (who played Lt. Uhura on the original Star Trek).

But this is not the first time that NASA has dabbled in music from outer space. The radio emissions of Saturn, recorded by the Cassini spacecraft, were shifted into audible frequencies, and the Kronos Quartet then incorporated the space sounds into a composition called “Sun Rings.” In 2008, NASA celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Beatles song “Across the Universe” by transmitting it into deep space.

So far, the galaxy appears ungrateful. “Obviously, deep space hasn’t sent us anything back,” a NASA spokeswoman noted.

--Andy

[Mageplunka69]

The world is broke, the people are broke, governments are going down and bankrupt, but we spends endless amounts of money to go to a world we will never inhabit....such morons

[AndyDufresne]

The world is broke, the people are broke, governments are going down and bankrupt, but we spends endless amounts of money to go to a world we will never inhabit....such morons

If you think the drop in the bucket that NASA (or any similar program) spends could fix the world's problems, you are probably pretty misguided.


--Andy

[AndyDufresne]

Here is another update, with some BW Photos of the Rover and Color Photos of the landscape...plus an Easter Egg of scientist humor and ingenuity.


On Aug. 28, 2012, during the 22nd Martian day, or sol, after landing on Mars, NASA's Curiosity rover drove about 52 feet (16 meters) eastward, the longest drive of the mission so far.

show: BW Photo, Rover Wheels and Soil

show: BW Photos, Rover Tracks and Easter Egg

show: Color Panorama Photos, Un-enhanced and color balanced

For giant sized Panoramas of the above photos that are better for outside of forum viewing, visit: Panorama Un-enhanced & Panorama Color Balanced.


--Andy

[AndyDufresne]

A little update with some photos:

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity drove about 70 feet (about 21 meters) on the mission's 21st Martian day, or sol (Aug. 30, 2012) and then took images with its Navigation Camera that are combined into this scene, which includes the fresh tracks. The view is centered toward the west-northwest.

show: BW Stitched Photo, Looking Back at Tracks

show: BW Photo, Rover Mastcam shadow

show: Color Photos, Martian Terrain and Rover Wheel

show: Color Photo, Martian Terrain and Horizon

--Andy

[AndyDufresne]

Necro bump, because I like this photo:

Click image to enlarge.

A mosaic of about 10-12 images acquired by Curiosity's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument on Sol 612-613 (April 27, 2014) showing a "selfie" of the rover and the interior of Gale Crater, with Mt Sharp (eventual destination) in the background.

And here is a hole it recently drilled:

The rover has drilled a hole in sandstone. It will soon collect samples to learn more about how the rocks formed.

--Andy