Rover Returns Voice and Telephoto Views from Mars. August 27, 2012 PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Curiosity has debuted the first recorded human voice that traveled from Earth to another planet and back. In spoken words radioed to the rover on Mars and back to NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on Earth, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden noted the difficulty of landing a rover on Mars, congratulated NASA employees and the agency's commercial and government partners on the successful landing of Curiosity earlier this month, and said curiosity is what drives humans to explore.
"The knowledge we hope to gain from our observation and analysis of Gale Crater will tell us much about the possibility of life on Mars as well as the past and future possibilities for our own planet. Curiosity will bring benefits to Earth and inspire a new generation of scientists and explorers, as it prepares the way for a human mission in the not too distant future," Bolden said in the recorded message. Curiosity is 3 weeks into a two-year prime mission on Mars. Curiosity Sends Back Incredible Hi-Res Views of Mt. Sharp.
Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Wow — what a view! This image, released today, is a high-resolution shot of the Curiosity rover’s ultimate goal: the stratified flanks of Gale Crater’s 3.4-mile (5.5-km) high central peak, Mount Sharp. The image was taken with Curiosity’s 100mm telephoto Mastcam as a calibration test… if views like this are what we can expect from the MSL mission, all I can say is (and I’ve said it before) GO CURIOSITY! “This is an area on Mount Sharp where Curiosity will go,” said Mastcam principal investigator Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems. “Those layers are our ultimate objective. The dark dune field is between us and those layers. Read more: Take a Trip to Explore Gale Crater The topmost ridges of Mount Sharp visible above are actually 10 miles (16.2 km) away.
The rocky mound just behind the boulder in that image is itself about 1,000 feet (300 meters) across and 300 feet (100 meters) high. About Jason Major. Mount Sharp. First Recorded Voice from Mars. First Recorded Voice from Mars Members of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission listen to a voice message from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in the mission support area at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The message, which had been sent to Mars and back, was played for the team on Aug. 27, 2012. › Download video › Latest images gallery › Listen to audio file The following statement by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was returned to Earth via the Mars Curiosity rover.
Hello. Since the beginning of time, humankind’s curiosity has led us to constantly seek new life…new possibilities just beyond the horizon. This is an extraordinary achievement. Thank you. Mars Shot First: Curiosity’s Wind Sensor Damaged. Hi-res self-portrait of Curiosity — taken with the mast-mounted Navcams. Debris can be seen scattered across the deck. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech During Mars rover Curiosity’s dramatic landing on Aug. 5, the rocket-powered sky crane blasted debris onto the rover’s deck.
The first question that came to mind concerned the safety of exposed and potentially vulnerable instrumentation. I was in the very fortunate position to raise my concerns during the Aug. 9 NASA news briefing. The response from MSL mission manager Mike Watkins was cautious optimism that little to no damage was caused by the unexpected ejection of material from the ground. Alas, it would seem that some damage was sustained. “Some of these rocks may have fallen on these exposed circuit boards and damaged the wires. “We’ll have to work a little harder to understand when the wind may be coming from a direction that would be masked by (Curiosity’s) mast … but we think we can work around that,” Vasavada said.
Like this: Updated: Curiosity ready to roll despite sensor damage. Mars Rover Curiosity: 1st Drive Panorama. Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing. RELEASE : 12-292 NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has begun driving from its landing site, which scientists announced today they have named for the late author Ray Bradbury. Making its first movement on the Martian surface, Curiosity's drive combined forward, turn and reverse segments. This placed the rover roughly 20 feet (6 meters) from the spot where it landed 16 days ago. NASA has approved the Curiosity science team's choice to name the landing ground for the influential author who was born 92 years ago today and died this year.
The location where Curiosity touched down is now called Bradbury Landing. "This was not a difficult choice for the science team," said Michael Meyer, NASA program scientist for Curiosity. "Many of us and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars. " More information about Curiosity is online at: and - end - Curiosity Stretches its Arm. Rover's Laser Instrument Zaps First Martian Rock. Orbiter Views NASA's New Mars Rover in Color. This color-enhanced view shows NASA's Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.
It was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASNASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona › Full image and caption August 14, 2012 PASADENA, Calif. -- The first color image taken from orbit showing NASA's rover Curiosity on Mars includes details of the layered bedrock on the floor of Gale Crater that the rover is beginning to investigate. Operators of the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter added the color view to earlier observations of Curiosity descending on its parachute, and one day after landing. "The rover appears as double bright spot plus shadows from this perspective, looking at its shadowed side, set in the middle of the blast pattern from the descent stage," said HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen, of the University of Arizona, Tucson.
NASA unveils Mars rover Curiosity’s travel plans. The first destination of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity will be an area near its Gale Crater landing site, where three kinds of terrain come together in a striking and unusual way. The rover’s primary mission is to reach the base of Mount Sharp — a three-mile high mound with layers of exposed rock — as it searches for the building blocks of possible Martian microbial life.
Video On Friday, NASA released a series of images that shows the heat shield from the Mars Science Laboratory hitting the ground on Mars and raising a cloud of dust. But the six-wheeled Curiosity will first visit a site in a different direction because of the three adjoining rock formations, which scientists say could help them better understand the history of the crater and of Mars. They named the site Glenelg after a rock formation in northern Canada. “Probably we’ll do a month worth of science there, maybe a little bit more,” lead mission scientist John Grotzinger told reporters during a conference call Friday.
. — Reuters. Curiosity Mars Rover Installing Smarts for Driving. RELEASE : 12-276 NASA Curiosity Mars Rover Installing Smarts for Driving PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity will spend its first weekend on Mars transitioning to software better suited for tasks ahead, such as driving and using its strong robotic arm. The rover's "brain transplant," which will occur during a series of steps Aug. 10 through Aug. 13, will install a new version of software on both of the rover's redundant main computers. This software for Mars surface operations was uploaded to the rover's memory during the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft's flight from Earth. "We designed the mission from the start to be able to upgrade the software as needed for different phases of the mission," said Ben Cichy of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., chief software engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
"The flight software version Curiosity currently is using was really focused on landing the vehicle. And - end - Mars Rover Curiosity Survives 'Brain Surgery,' Set for 1st Drive. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has survived its four-day "brain transplant" in fine shape and is now gearing up for its first Red Planet drive, scientists announced today (Aug. 14). Engineers upgraded Curiosity's flight software over the weekend, switching the rover's main and backup computers from landing mode to surface mode. The four-day overhaul temporarily halted Curiosity's science and instrument-checkout work, which had begun almost immediately after the rover touched down inside Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5.
But those activities can resume later today, on the rover's ninth full Martian day — or Sol 9, in mission lingo — because Curiosity's brain surgery went well, researchers said. "It came off pretty much without a hitch," Curiosity mission systems manager Mike Watkins, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters today. This image from NASA's Curiosity rover looks south of the rover's landing site on Mars towards Mount Sharp.
Curiosity's First Low-Resolution Color Panorama. First High-Resolution Color Mosaic of Curiosity's Mastcam Images. View Larger Image This image is the first high-resolution color mosaic from NASA's Curiosity rover, showing the geological environment around the rover's landing site in Gale Crater on Mars. The images show a landscape that closely resembles portions of the southwestern United States in its morphology, adding to the impression gained from the lower-resolution thumbnail mosaic released early in the week.
The colors in the main image are unmodified from those returned by the camera. While it is difficult to say whether this is what a human eye would see, it is what a cell phone or camcorder would record since the Mastcam takes color pictures in the exact same manner that consumer cameras acquire color images. The colors in a second version linked to the main image have been modified as if the scene were transported to Earth and illuminated by terrestrial sunlight. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Browse Image | Medium Image | Full Res Image (NASA's Planetary Photojournal) Mars panorama shows Curiosity's prime target. By the CNN Wire Staff updated 6:27 PM EDT, Tue August 14, 2012 NASA says the bright spot in this image taken in April on Mars by the Curiosity rover could be merely a "glinting rock or cosmic-ray hit.
" The Curiosity rover set off from Earth in November 2011 and landed some eight and a half months later -- 99 million miles away. This view of the twilight sky and Martian horizon, taken by Curiosity, includes Earth as the brightest point of light in the night sky. This mosaic of images from the Navigation Camera on Curiosity shows the terrain to the west from the rover's position on the 528th Martian day, or sol, of the mission on January 30.
An illustration depicts the possible extent of an ancient lake inside Gale Crater, where the Mars rover Curiosity landed on the Red Planet in August 2012. Martian dust appears on the surface of a penny, brought along with the Curiosity rover and photographed by the Mars Hand Lens Imager on October 2. This is the calibration target for the MAHLI. Mysterious Mars Photo Captures ‘Serendipitous’ Moment. A mysterious Mars photo led some to believe that the Curiosity Rover had discovered life on the red planet in one of its very first images. NASA, however, says it was probably just dirt. The LA Times reports that one of the first images sent back from the Mars Curiosity Rover showed a “faint but distinctive” blotch on the horizon. On subsequent images, however, the blotch is gone. What was that faint smoke in the distance?
A martian civilization hurrying underground? A smudge of dirt on the Curiosity’s camera? A piece of the Rover crashing in the distance? The Lookout reports that the blotch remains a mystery but NASA has a few theories. The space organization released a “crime scene” photo of the Curiosity Rover’s landing site and believes that the smudge in the distance could be the “sky crane,” the spacecraft that flew the rover to mars, crashing to the red planet.
The LA Times writes: Watkins said: “I don’t think you can rule it out… It bears looking into. Mystery Cloud in Mars Rover Landing Photo Expained. A strange cloud on Mars seen by NASA's Curiosity rover just after it landed on the Martian surface this week set the Internet buzzing over what it might be. Was it a dust storm? Part of the rover? Something a bit more … alien-y? Well, NASA has solved the mystery. "We believe we've caught what is the descent stage impact on the Martian surface," Steve Sell, NASA's deputy operations lead for Curiosity's Mars landing, told reporters today at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The fact that the descent stage flew directly aft of the rover was an amazing coincidence," he added. The rocket-powered sky crane hovered over Curiosity's landing site and gingerly lowered the 1-ton rover to the Martian surface before cutting its tethers free and flying away to crash at a safe distance.
The Martian mystery cloud was first spotted by Curiosity just 40 seconds after it landed on Mars late Sunday night (Aug. 5 PDT). A 'Curiosity' Quiz: How Well Do You Know NASA's New... Curiosity's mysterious Mars photo stirs speculation. Did Curiosity capture the galactic equivalent of the Zapruder film when it landed on Mars? Seconds after the NASA robot's landing Sunday night, Curiosity managed to squeeze off a handful of fuzzy, black-and-white photographs. One, taken with a device on its rear known as a Hazcam, captured the pebble-strewn ground beneath the rover and one of its wheels — and a blotch, faint but distinctive, on the horizon. The images were relayed by a passing satellite. Two hours later, the satellite passed overhead again. This time, Curiosity sent home a new batch of higher-resolution photos.
They showed the same horizon. The blotch was gone. LIVE VIDEO DISCUSSION: Talk to 'Mohawk guy' today at 2 p.m. Space junkies raced onto the Internet with giddy speculation about the difference between the photos. Curiosity, the largest spacecraft ever sent to another planet, had just sailed through deep space for almost nine months and more than 350 million miles. Photos: Mars rover mission Yet a pesky fact remained. Scene of a Martian Landing. Scene of a Martian Landing The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's Curiosity rover were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large, reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust. Around the rover, this disturbance was from the sky crane thrusters, and forms a bilaterally symmetrical pattern. This image was acquired from a special 41-degree roll of MRO, larger than the normal 30-degree limit.
The image scale is 39 centimeters (15.3 inches) per pixel. Mars crater where rover landed looks 'Earth-like' CSI Mars. Curiosity's Heat Shield in Detail. 1st Photos of Mars from Curiosity. Curiosity lands on Mars: Two-year mission to investigate Red Planet begins. Curiosity's Descent. Curiosity Drops in on Mars in High-Res. Mars Rover Landing Photographed From Mars Orbit. Mars Rover Curiosity Landing Parachute. Google Doodle August 6, 2012. NASA Mars Rover Curiosity makes a perfect landing. Curiosity lands successfully, kicks off new era in Mars exploration. Curiosity makes HISTORIC landing at Gale Crater on Mars.
Challenges of Getting to Mars: Curiosity's Seven Minutes of Terror. Curiosity Landing Sequence. Mars lander Curiosity protected by largest ever heat shield. Stephen Colbert Hypes NASA's Huge Mars Rover Landing. John Grunsfeld (August 1, 2012)