Jake Matijevic (rock) WikiMiniAtlas MAHLI Close-up of Jake M Rock APXS Analyzes Jake M Rock Erosional formation of Jake M rock by wind. The rock was encountered by the Curiosity rover on the way from Bradbury Landing to Glenelg Intrique in September 2012 and measures about 25 cm (9.8 in) high and 40 cm (16 in) wide.[1] The rock was named by NASA after Jacob Matijevic (1947-2012), a mathematician-turned-rover-engineer, who played a critical role in the design of the six-wheeled rover, but died just days after the Curiosity rover landed in August 2012. Matijevic was the surface operations systems chief engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory Project and the project's Curiosity rover.
He was also a leading engineer for all of the previous NASA Mars rovers including Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity.[2] The rover team determined the rock to be a suitable target for the first use of Curiosity's contact instruments, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and the Alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS).[3] Curiosity Rover Touches 1st Martian Rock, Makes Longest Drive Yet. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity reached out and touched a Martian rock with its huge robotic arm for the first time, then took off on its longest Red Planet drive to date. Curiosity spent the past several days investigating a strange pyramid-shaped stone named "Jake Matijevic," testing out some of the gear at the end of its 7-foot-long (2.1 meters) arm.
These tools include the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), which measures elemental composition, and the Mars Hand Lens Imager close-up camera, or MAHLI. The rover performed these initial "contact science" operations on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 22 and 23), researchers said. Photos snapped on those days show Curiosity's arm sidled up against "Jake Matijevic," with the arm's turret obscuring most of the 16-inch-tall (40 centimeters) rock.
"I did a science! This image combines photographs taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at three different distances from the first Martian rock that NASA's Curiosity rover touched with its arm. Weird Mars rock has interesting back story. The Mars Science Laboratory team has identified their target for the first full-up contact science investigations using all the instruments attached to the Curiosity rover's robotic arm.
And 'target' is the operative word here, as this rock will be shot with Curiosity's laser to help determine it chemical makeup. Interestingly, it has an unusual pyramid shape, and it was described as a "cool-looking rock sitting out on the plains of Mars," by MSL project scientist John Grotzinger. But the rock now has a name, and while we don't know everything about it yet, like its namesake, this rock likely has a very interesting back story. The rock has been dubbed "Jake Matijevic," named for the surface operations systems engineer for all the Mars rover missions so far. But unfortunately, Matijevic passed away at age 64 just days after Curiosity touched down on Mars last month. Oh, the stories this rock will be able to tell.
The Story of Jake and a Rock on Mars. Jake Matijevic, a mathematician-turned-rover-engineer who played an important role in the design of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL, dubbed "Curiosity"), now appears in Wikipedia as "Jake Matijevic (rock). " Jake passed away just days after Curiosity's landing in August. With his understated manner, I can imagine his small smile on seeing he's now more famous as a rock on Mars than as an engineer. Who was Jake and what's so important about this rock that he would be honored in this way? Jake Matijevic (1947-2012) was the surface operations systems chief engineer for MSL, which means he oversaw all aspects of how Curiosity will be kept alive by the engineers and used to best advantage to carry out the scientist' two-year exploration of Gale crater and its 3.4 miles (5.5 km) high central mound.
Jake Matijevic was one of the two engineers I interviewed in studying how it was possible for scientists to conduct field science remotely through a robotic laboratory. Matijevic explained: Tribute to Jake. Mars Rover Finds Ancient Streambed Where Water Once Flowed. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has discovered what appears to be an ancient streambed, suggesting that water once flowed in large volumes — perhaps hip-deep in places — across the Martian surface. Photos from the Curiosity rover have revealed several different rocky outcrops that contain stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock.
Some of these stones are rounded and large, indicating that they were transported relatively long distances across the Red Planet surface by water. This water flow was likely quite vigorous, perhaps akin to the flows produced by flash floods in desert areas here on Earth, researchers announced today (Sept. 27). "From the size of gravels it carried, we can interpret the water was moving about 3 feet per second, with a depth somewhere between ankle and hip deep," Curiosity co-investigator William Dietrich, of the University of California, Berkeley, said in a statement. The first outcrop, known as Goulburn, lies a few feet from the rover's landing site.
Curiosity Shows Off Its Credentials. Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Plaque on the exterior of Mars Science Laboratory, aka “Curiosity” (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) Curiosity drops a few rather big names in recent images taken with its MAHLI (Mars Hand Lens Imager) camera: here we see a plaque affixed to its surface bearing the names and signatures of U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Office of Science and Technology Director John Holdren, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other key figures responsible for making the Mars Exploration Program possible.
You never know… even on another planet it can’t hurt to have friends in high places! The image was captured by MAHLI on September 19, the 44th sol of the MSL mission. The rectangular plaque is made of anodized aluminum, measuring 3.94 inches (100 mm) high by 3.23 inches (82 mm) wide. The complete list of signatures is: Barack Obama, President, United States of America Joe Biden, Vice President John P. Charles F. Solar Eclipse on Mars Photographed by Curiosity Rover. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has snapped stunning shots of a brief partial solar eclipse on the Red Planet, capturing images of the tiny Martian moon Phobos crossing the face of the sun. Curiosity took the photos of Phobos on Thursday (Sept. 13), roughly five weeks after landing inside the Red Planet's huge Gale Crater on Aug. 5.
The images, taken with Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam), look very different than the solar eclipses on Earth that we're used to. That's because our planet's moon is about 2,160 miles across (3,476 kilometers), big enough to block out the solar disk entirely when Earth, moon and sun are perfectly aligned. Even partial eclipses of the sun by our moon are impressive celestial events. While Phobos orbits much closer to Mars than our moon does to Earth, it's just 14 miles across (22 km) on average. So Phobos takes only a small bite out of the sun during a Martian solar eclipse. [Photos: 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse of May 2012] Huge Mars Rover Faces Contamination Concern. An unexpected contamination problem has cropped up for NASA's next Mars rover, but scientists are confident the huge robot will still be able to complete its mission after it lands on the Red Planet in August.
NASA scientists discussed the contamination concern and a new Mars landing plan for the car-size Curiosity rover in a teleconference with reporters today (June 11). The contamination issue, they said, concerns the rover's drill. When Curiosity ultimately bores into a Martian rock, small amounts of Teflon and other contaminants from the drill will likely seep into the sample, NASA officials said.
These introduced materials may make it tougher for the Curiosity team to search for organic carbon — the building blocks of life as we know it here on Earth — on the Red Planet. Meanwhile, Grotzinger and his team also said today that they have trimmed down the landing zone for the Curiosity rover in order to bring it closer to its final target: a huge mountain inside Mars' giant Gale Crater. Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Greets Curiosity, Roves to Clay Mineral Hunting Grounds.
Sols 3029 - 3058 Posted by A.J.S. Rayl Topics: mission status, Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover NASA / JPL-Caltech / Maas Digital Opportunity stood down for nine days in early August as Curiosity landed and went through check-out, but on the tenth day the Mars Exploration Rover was back on the road, driving along the northwestern rim of Endeavour Crater and into the “sweet spot” of the clay mineral hunting ground at Cape York, crossing another major milestone and heading for a wild looking ridge that just may harbor the mission's next big finding.
“We’ve been driving southward along a set of eastern facing outcrops on the inboard side of Cape York that we believe, based on orbital data, may contain clay minerals,” said Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, MER principal investigator, as he was about to take the chair for one of the Science Operations Working Group (SOWG) meetings last week. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/ASU/S. Finned outcrop Finned outcrop in 3D 1. Stunning Mars Photos: Curiosity Rover Tracks from Space. NASA's newest Mars rover Curiosity is taking its first tentative drives across the Martian surface and leaving tracks that have been spotted all the way from space in a spectacular photo snapped by an orbiting spacecraft.
The new view of Curiosity's tracks from space was captured by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released today (Sept. 6). It shows the rover as a bright, boxy vehicle at the end of two tracks that create a single zig-zag pattern in the Martian surface. Another photo from the MRO spacecraft spotted the car-size Curiosity rover's parachute and protective backshell, which were jettisoned by the rover during its Aug. 5 landing. A previous photo by MRO taken on Curiosity's actual landing day captured an image of the Mars rover hanging from its parachute. Scientists used the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, camera on the MRO spacecraft to take the new photos, which have created a buzz among the Curiosity rover's science team.
Mars Rover Curiosity Begins Arm-Work Phase.