Inside NASA’s Curiosity: It’s an Apple Airport Extreme… with wheels. Late last night, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity successfully navigated its way through Seven Minutes of Terror and touched down on the surface of the Red Planet, heralding a new age of extraterrestrial exploration that will eventually result in the human colonization of Mars. The first photos from Curiosity are starting to trickle in (right), and very soon we’ll start to see scientific data gathered by Curiosity’s on-board science lab, so I thought it would be a good time to discuss the hardware and software that actually makes MSL Curiosity possible.
Hardware At the heart of Curiosity there is, of course, a computer. In this case the Mars rover is powered by a RAD750, a single-board computer (motherboard, RAM, ROM, and CPU) produced by BAE. The RAD750 can withstand temperatures of between -55 and 70C, and radiation levels up to 1000 gray. Software On the software side of things, NASA again stuck to tried-and-tested solutions, opting for the 27-year-old VxWorks operating system. Historic Mars Landing Brought to You by ...Windows XP? | Wired Enterprise. NASA scientists celebrate after Curiosity’s landing. Screen Grab: Boing Boing Microsoft’s Windows XP got a surprise endorsement as triumphant NASA scientists hi-fived coworkers just before sitting down to take press questions after the historic landing of the Curiosity Mars Rover.
In a video captured by Boing Boing blogger Xeni Jardin, the Windows XP startup screen flashed in the background behind the scientists as they congratulated each other on the successful mission early Monday morning. Like so much of the world, NASA is still using a Microsoft OS that debuted more than a decade ago. It was enough for Jardin to note on her blog: “Despite the image on the screen behind them, this was not a Microsoft press conference.” One thing’s for sure. It’s not exactly a shock that NASA is still using some old-school technology to run projection screens in its press briefing room. We think that NASA has earned it. Microsoft is giving Windows users until April 2014 to kick the XP habit. Next Mars mission – after Curiosity comes InSight.
Feeling very confident after the perfect landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars on August 6th, NASA has announced its next mission to the Red Planet. In 2016, the US space agency will launch the unmanned InSight lander to Mars. Unlike Curiosity, InSight will be a static lander loaded with instruments designed to study the deep geology of Mars and answer such questions as whether the core of the planet is liquid or solid, and why Mars hasn’t any shifting tectonic plates like Earth. The solar-powered InSight (Interior exploration using Seismology, Geodesy, and Heat Transfer) may not be wheeling about the surface of Mars under nuclear power, but it is assigned with a number of important tasks.
It will determine the size, composition, and physical state of the Martian core; the thickness and structure of the Martian crust; the composition and structure of the planet's’ mantle; and, how hot the interior of Mars is. InSight will carry four instruments to Mars. The third instrument is RISE. How to Build Your Own LEGO Mars Rover Curiosity. Two weeks before NASA's Curiosity rover lifted off for Mars last fall, one of the engineers who helped build the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) spacecraft launched his own attempt at getting LEGO to produce a toy version of the six-wheeled rover. Eight months later, the real rover has safely touched down inside Mars' Gale Crater, but Stephen Pakbaz's brick-built Curiosity has yet to land on toy store shelves.
His model however, now has do-it-yourself instructions. Last year, Pakbaz posted his design for a 313 piece, 1:20 scale version of the Curiosity rover on LEGO's CUUSOO website, where the public can vote for fan-created LEGO sets. If 10,000 or more people cast their support behind a particular design, LEGO says it will consider producing it as a commercial model. Since Nov. 15, 2011, Pakbaz's LEGO rover has received just over 1,500 votes. But that doesn't mean LEGO rovers aren't already landing in living rooms around the world.
Step 33: Install the nuclear battery Bricks not included. Curiosity Mars rover video on Ustream beats primetime cable news viewership. Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images Proof that there’s hope for mankind yet: Online streaming coverage of the Curiosity rover’s Mars landing on Sunday attracted more viewers than all but one primetime cable news channel. Ustream, the website that broadcast the landing, told Mashable that its live-stream reached a peak viewership of 500,000, besting CNN, MSNBC, and HLN. A total of 3.2 million people tuned in to the live stream at one point or another. Proof that we’re still doomed: The one cable news station that beat the Mars landing on Sunday was Fox News. Regardless, the numbers suggest that a growing number of Americans would rather watch history being made—even if the production value is low and you have to watch it on a computer—than watch a bunch of well-dressed people in makeup and hair gel shouting at one another.
Meanwhile, NBC reports that it served a total of 1.5 million live streams of last week's women’s gymnastics team final. Mars rover battery made by firm tied to RI, Conn. PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — The new robotic rover exploring Mars is powered by a high-tech battery made by a southern New England company. Yardney Technical Products created the lithium ion battery for NASA's Curiosity rover, which landed on the red planet early Monday. The company is in the middle of a move from Stonington, Conn., to a new headquarters in East Greenwich, R.I. Yardney made batteries for three previous vehicles sent to Mars: the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and the Phoenix lander. "I woke up this morning and the first thing I did was check to make sure it landed," Yevoli said. The 1-ton, $2.5-billion rover actually has two batteries — one is a backup — plus a plutonium reactor.
More than $1 million was spent designing and testing the battery, Yevoli said. Curiosity's batteries aren't the only connection to New England. Milliken was with the science team at the Pasadena lab monitoring Curiosity's progress as it descended through the Martian atmosphere. Mars: Engineers admire Curiosity's landing, prep for rover brain transplant. The Curiosity rover’s landing wasn’t quite perfect -- but if the Martian robot were an Olympic gymnast, it could earn a gold medal for its gymnastic contortions, according to NASA engineers. The Mars Science Laboratory’s climactic Aug. 5 landing essentially happened on autopilot, with scientists and engineers in the control room at Jet Propulsion Laboratory waiting several minutes as the rover’s signals traveled the roughly 150 million miles back to Earth.
But Curiosity ended up roughly 1.5 miles away from its predicted touchdown zone – not bad, given that their projected landing zone was an ellipse 12 miles wide, mission engineers said Friday. “We flew this right down the middle,” said engineer Steve Sell. “It’s absolutely incredible to have worked on a plan for so many years and then just see everything happen exactly according to plan.” “We believe he may have rigged the system,” joked team member Devin Kipp, responsible for building the supersonic parachute.
Confirmed: Mars rover Curiosity took photo of craft crash-landing. Images taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars show a plume of dust, left, which… (NASA ) Engineers said Friday that the Curiosity rover happened to catch a picture of its own ride crash-landing on Mars — a wink-of-an-eye serendipity that some dismissed as a statistical impossibility, but appears to have been confirmed by a thorough review of landing data. The final seconds of Curiosity's eight-month-plus journey to Mars called for a spacecraft to lower the rover to the surface using a "sky crane" — three ropes.
The ropes were then cut, and the last of the spacecraft, known as the "descent stage," cast itself toward the horizon. It crash-landed, on purpose, about 2,000 feet away. A low-resolution photograph Curiosity took seconds after landing Sunday night arrived promptly at La Cañada Flintridge's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the $2.5-billion mission for NASA. PHOTOS: Inside the Mars landing at JPL The photograph captured a pyramid-shaped blotch on the horizon. How NASA battle-tested its Mars rover live stream — Cloud Computing News. Mars Landing Brings Tears of Joy to Silicon Valley - Venture Capital Dispatch.
Small Businesses That Made the Mars Curiosity Mission Possible. When NASA's Curiosity rover successfully landed on Mars Monday, it made history as the largest and most advanced rover to ever land on the Red Planet. For the next 23 months, the Curiosity will study the Martian surface, test for the existence of certain gases and chemicals, and conduct tests to determine whether there is, ever has been, or ever could be, life on Mars. To accomplish all this, the rover will employ technology, not just from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory team, but also from small businesses across the country. According to CNNMoney, the Curiosity is currently supporting about 300 non-NASA related jobs. While much of NASA's $2.5 billion bankroll for the mission went to giants like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, here's a look at a few of the small businesses that are also making history (and money): Malin Space Science Systems Those who watched the landing take place on video have geologist Michael Malin, founder of Malin Space Science Systems, to thank.
Ocean Optics. Curiosity: How many jobs did the Mars landing create? - Aug. 6. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- As the new rover that just landed on Mars looks for signs of life there, the NASA program that runs it is supporting life here on Earth -- with jobs. NASA spokesman Guy Webster said the rover, named Curiosity, is currently supporting about 700 people, but has supported 7,000 jobs at various times over the last eight years. The Curiosity project and its $2.5 billion budget has generated jobs not just at NASA but at companies ranging from Lockheed Martin to a bicycle manufacturer in Chattanooga, Tenn. "People wonder about throwing money at Mars, [but] no money was spent on Mars," said Webster. "There are no ATMs up there. He said there are currently up to 400 NASA employees working on the project, in addition to 300 scientists outsourced by the government agency.
The purpose of Curiosity is to study the red planet and send information back to Earth. NASA is currently downsizing and laying off thousands of workers. Webster said that Aerojet of GenCorp. What President Obama and others are saying about the Mars landing. The United States is reunited with Mars again, and it feels so good. So good, in fact, everybody is chiming in on the landing, including President Barack Obama and a few tech heavyweights with an eye to the sky. The Mars rover Curiosity touched down on Mars at 1:31 am Eastern Time today, completing what NASA refers to as the “seven minutes of terror.” That is, it takes seven minutes from the time the rover enters the atmosphere to the time it touches the surface of Mars. But the signal from the rover takes 14 minutes in total to make it back to earth.
Meaning, when NASA first finds out that the rover has entered Mars’ atmosphere, it has already landed on the surface, but NASA won’t know for another seven minutes whether it was a successful landing or the rover was destroyed. President Obama released a statement about the success of the landing today, saying: Here are a few other well-known figures jumping into the conversation: Virgin Galactic tweeted, “How about that @MarsCuriosity?!? Curiosity On Mars: Give Credit To Amazon.com, Aeroflex, Too. Now that the $2.5 billion mission is an apparent success, still more technology companies have acknowledged their participation in the NASA project. Previously, giants including Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), the No. 1 chipmaker, had said Curiosity was using its embedded software from its Wind River Systems unit; other contractors included Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) and Germany's Siemens (NYSE: SI). But there are others, big and small, now acknowledging their work.
They include: Amazon.com Inc. Aeroflex Holding Corp. Malin Space Science Systems, a private San Diego company, designed the Mastcam imaging system that functions as Curiosity's eye, as well as the Mars Hand Lens Imager and Mars Descent Imager. InXitu, a private Campbell, Calif., provider of field-portable x-ray equipment, helped devise the devices that identify minerals, a key objective of the Curiosity mission.
A unit of United Technologies Inc. Intersil Corp. Here’s why the Mars Curiosity camera is so outdated. When we first saw pictures from NASA’s Curosity mission to Mars, many of us asked, “That’s it?” Yes, the images weren’t as detailed as we wanted, but they were from another planet, so we happily gobbled them up. But why does the Mars rover feature paltry 2-megapixel sensors on its main imaging cameras? The decision stems from planning of the rover’s systems back in 2004, Malin Space Science Systems project manager Mike Ravine told Digital Photography Review.
The planning team selected the 2-megapixel sensor on Curiosity for several reasons. First, it had to produce a reasonable amount of data for transmission back to Earth via a UHF transmitter. “We developed all four cameras around a common architecture, so the choice of sensor was hedged across all of them,” Ravine said. In light of advanced camera technology featured on today’s smartphones, Ravine seems slightly disappointed the images on Mars aren’t more breathtaking.
You can view more photos from Curosity at NASA.gov. A Conversation with Mike Deliman - ACM Queue. Related Content TiVo-lution One of the greatest challenges of designing a computer system is in making sure the system itself is “invisible” to the user. The system should simply be a conduit to the desired result. There are many examples of such purpose-built systems, ranging from modern automobiles to mobile phones. The (not so) Hidden Computer Ubiquitous computing may not have arrived yet, but ubiquitous computers certainly have. Browse this Topic: Favorite Tweets by @ACMQueue Queue on Reddit A Conversation with Mike Deliman And you think your operating system needs to be reliable. Mike Deliman was pretty busy last January when the Mars rover Spirit developed memory and communications problems shortly after landing on the Red Planet. Deliman serves as chief engineer of operating systems at Wind River Systems. Discussing the role of software in space with Deliman is George Neville-Neil, who is also well acquainted with VxWorks.
GNN How does one “radiation-harden” a processor? Mars Curiosity. Where is Linux? From the 'Real Time Linux' files: With all the excitement about the Sunday AM (ET) landing of the NASA Curiosity rover on Mars, I've felt that something has been missing. I've seen multiple press releases from vendors all highlighting how their tech is helping NASA. One of the releases I got was from Intel's Wind River division. Wind River has a robust embedded Linux operating system offering. However, that's not what they sold to NASA for Curiosity. Instead Curiosity is powered by Wind River's proprietary VxWorks commercial real time OS.
Now I understand that real time determinism is something that a spacecraft needs, but I would have thought that's also something that Linux now can provide. To be sure, there are no doubt teeming numbers of Linux servers sitting behind the scenes helping to crunch all the Hadoop loving Big Data that Curiosity will send from the surface of Mars. Mars Science Laboratory.
Seven Minutes - Aerospace & Defense. NASA JPL Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover uses Wind River’s VxWorks real-time operating system. Three Minutes With Mike Deliman. Mike Deliman. Software Makes for (Soft) Mars Landing. Nasa’s Curiosity rover lands on Mars using VxWorks software. London Calling: Wind River, Marconi and Mars.