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Post by Forever Sunshine on Aug 28, 2012 8:42:28 GMT -5
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has beamed home the first human voice ever sent from another planet, as well as some spectacular new images of its Martian environs.
The 1-ton Curiosity rover broadcast a pre-loaded greeting from NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, who congratulated the mission team for getting the huge robot to Mars safely. While the significance of the audio accomplishment is largely symbolic, NASA officials hope it presages a more substantial human presence on the Red Planet down the road.
"With this, we have another small step that's being taken in extending the human presence beyond Earth, and actually bringing that experience of exploring the planets back a little closer to all of us," said Curiosity program executive Dave Lavery, invoking the famous line that the late astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered from the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969.
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Post by eos on Sept 9, 2012 15:26:22 GMT -5
One of the early shots from Curiosity  And a superb shot of Curiosity on the descent parachute,image taken from the Mars Orbiter  |
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Post by eos on Sept 12, 2012 9:52:57 GMT -5
Nice HD images of Gale Crater from Curiosity   |
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Post by pod 7 on Sept 12, 2012 14:26:05 GMT -5
Has it picked up a parking ticket /or even a speeding ticket ??
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Post by eos on Sept 13, 2012 10:40:31 GMT -5
not yet but give it time ;D
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Sept 16, 2012 7:25:47 GMT -5
I do love space exploration and the pics that the robots and Hubble return.
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Post by eos on Sept 16, 2012 15:26:36 GMT -5
Astronomy is one of my hobbies..fit it in when I can One for you..one of Hubble's famous shots.. The Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula  |
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Sept 16, 2012 18:02:08 GMT -5
I remember that one, Eos. I wish they'd publish more of the pics Hubble returns. There are some awesome ones.
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Post by eos on Sept 17, 2012 1:56:10 GMT -5
Not Mars but Hubble related..very well worth a watch and very thought provoking
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Sept 18, 2012 14:45:48 GMT -5
How the Curiosity rover's robotic arm is blazing a trail on Mars
The robotic arm on NASA's Curiosity rover should set a new standard for robotic operations on Mars — and it could revolutionize robotics on Earth as well.
At least that's what Ashítey Trebi-Ollennu, one of the four robotic-arm system engineers on the Mars Science Laboratory team, is looking forward to. He expects the features developed for Curiosity's 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) robotic arm to show up on a planet near you in the form of NASA-enabled technologies, or NETs.
"Anytime I see a technology, I say to myself, 'Is this a NET?'" he told me last week.
The robotic arm cleared the last of its commissioning tests last Thursday, and is now ready for duty on Gale Crater. Just based on metrics alone, Curiosity's arm is in a class by itself: It's twice as long as the arm that was installed on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and is tipped with a turnable, twistable turret that weighs 30 kilograms (66 pounds), or about as much as a small child.
cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/17/13902832-how-the-curiosity-rovers-robotic-arm-is-blazing-a-trail-on-mars-and-earth?lite
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Post by eos on Oct 18, 2012 12:40:40 GMT -5
 'Here is a much larger panorama of one section of the land in front of the Curiosity rover lying in front of the foothills of the crater wall. This shows again a lower valley of light-toned worn rocks with a higher ground of darker. This images was put together from NASA/JPL-Caltech images from the rover'  'Looking to the “south” toward the central peak Mt Sharp we find a land of assorted probable volcanic origin rocks scattered around on the surface. A few hundred meters away the scene is very different with hardly any boulders or erratic rocks on the surface. This scene is much more reminiscent of what the Spirit Rover saw over its travels in another crater floor. I am really hard-pressed to come up with even a wild-hypothesis about the origin of these rock field in its relationships to the other scenes found not far away. Image credit: NASA/JPL-CALtech' |
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Oct 18, 2012 18:26:19 GMT -5
Awesome! I think it's so cool to be getting photos back from Mars.
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Post by eos on Oct 19, 2012 1:31:03 GMT -5
 'This photo taken Oct. 15, shows part of the small pit or bite created when Mars rover Curiosity collected its second scoop of Martian soil at a sandy patch called 'Rocknest.' The bright particle near the center of this image was assessed by the mission's science team to be native Martian material rather than spacecraft debris.' Courtesy of JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NASA/AP  |
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Post by eos on Oct 24, 2012 14:15:15 GMT -5
"Taking Mars' Temperature This graph shows the rise and fall of air and ground temperatures on Mars obtained by NASA's Curiosity rover. The data cover Aug. 16 to Aug. 17, 2012 and were taken by the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station. Ground temperatures vary from as high as 37 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) to as low as minus 131.8 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 91 degrees Celsius), showing large temperature oscillations from day to night. Air temperatures vary from as high as 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 2 degrees Celsius) to as low as minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 75 degrees Celsius), indicating, as expected, variations in air temperatures are less extreme than ground temperature variations."  |
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Post by eos on Nov 13, 2012 11:25:08 GMT -5
Two great photo- mosaics from Curiosity   |
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Nov 13, 2012 13:18:05 GMT -5
Awesome! I don't know why but I never expected Mars to look like this.
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Post by eos on Nov 13, 2012 16:03:32 GMT -5
Yes..superb images..its when we see a 'normal' to us sky instead of the black sky associated with the Lunar Landings
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Nov 13, 2012 18:10:57 GMT -5
I know. Makes it hard to believe it's actually Mars!
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Post by eos on Nov 14, 2012 2:35:14 GMT -5
I know. Makes it hard to believe it's actually Mars! With Mars having an atmosphere the sky has similar properties to ours..though we couldn't breath it Mostly Carbon Di-oxide  Air Pressure~~~~ Olympus Mons summit 0.03 kilopascals (0.0044 psi) Highest point on Mars Mars average 0.6 kilopascals (0.087 psi) Hellas Planitia bottom 1.16 kilopascals (0.168 psi) Lowest point on Mars Armstrong limit 6.25 kilopascals (0.906 psi) at this pressure water boils in the body due to the low pressure Mount Everest summit 33.7 kilopascals (4.89 psi) Earth sea level 101.3 kilopascals (14.69 psi) |
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Post by eos on Nov 19, 2012 1:50:26 GMT -5
 Amazing clarity from this image..from the NASA Mars Science Lab site mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/Rock 'Et-Then' Near Curiosity, Sol 82 The Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took this image of a rock called "Et-Then" during the mission's 82nd sol, or Martian day (Oct. 29, 2012.) The rock's informal name comes from the name of an island in Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. MAHLI viewed the rock from a distance of about 15.8 inches (40 centimetres). The image covers an area about 9.5 inches by 7 inches (24 centimetres by 18 centimetres). Et-Then is located near the rover's front left wheel, where the rover has been stationed while scooping soil at the site called "Rocknest." This is one of three images acquired by MAHLI from slightly different positions so that a three-dimensional information could be used to plan possible future examination of the rock. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS |
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