The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover counter piece, Curiosity is one of the most ambitious Mars Mission flown by NASA. One of the prime objective of the Curiosity is to find out if the red planet is or was suitable for life. One more objective of the Curiosity is study about Mars's environment.
The size of Curiosity allows it to carry out lot of scientific experiments which will be able to analyze, take pictures or any rock within the reach of its 7 foot long arm. Curiosity is 9 feet 10 inches long and 9 feet 1 inch wide and it is about 7 feet high. The weight of Curiosity is 900 Kg. The wheels of Curiosity have a 20 inch diameter.
The Curiosity is a six-wheeled robot of the size of a car. The main mission objective of this Curiosity is to find out if Mars has supported small life forms... and also if humans can survive on the red planet some day in future!! The Curiosity has most of the senses of the humans.. The parts of Curiosity are very much similar to what a human would need to explore the red planet ( the brain, eyes, body, arm, legs etc...). Here are some more details of Mars Curiosity.
Read more about Curiosity below.
1. Curiosity landed one minute ahead of its scheduled after 36 weeks in space. NASA put the official landing time on Mars' surface as 1:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Aug. 6, one minute later than the time the space agency estimated months ago.
2. The Curiosity landed on the target, which is at the foot of a mountain which is 3 miles tall and 96 miles wide in the Gale crater.
3. A relay system was employed by NASA to receive confirmation of the landing. The direct line of communications was obstructed by the Earth's horizon as the landing craft approached Mars' surface. So, the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which had been repositioned a few weeks ago to better monitor the landing, relayed confirmation to the space agency's Deep Space Network antenna station in Canberra, Australia, which in turn relayed the news to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
4. Just few minutes after its landing, th Curiosity has sent its first view of Mars, a wide-angle scene of rocky ground near the front of the rover. Later on it starting transmitting high resolution color images after deploying its mast. The rover has 17 cameras in all.
5. The Curiosity rover changed its speed when it entered the final stage of its journey. The space craft approached Mars at a speed of 8000 miles per hour and then when it hit the top of Mar's atmosphere, the planet's gravity pulled it at a speed of 13,200 miles per hour. The rover slowed down to 1.7 miles per hour as it touched down the surface by using its "Sky crane" landing technique.
6. The weather was excellent at the time of descent even though there was a threat of a dust storm.
7. The Curiosity was lowered in a delicate sequence of events by thruster rockets, a 51 foot wide parachute and nylon cords.
8. The Curiosity carries 10 scientific instruments some of them were being used on Mars mission for the first time. One such instrument was laser firing instrument which can check the elemental composition of the rocks from a distance. It will use a drill and scoop at the end of a robotic arm to gather soil and rock interiors, then move the samples to its lab instruments.
9. The total cost of Curiosity mission is around $2.5 billions as per NASA which include the spacecraft development, science investigations and the cost of launch and the operations.
The size of Curiosity allows it to carry out lot of scientific experiments which will be able to analyze, take pictures or any rock within the reach of its 7 foot long arm. Curiosity is 9 feet 10 inches long and 9 feet 1 inch wide and it is about 7 feet high. The weight of Curiosity is 900 Kg. The wheels of Curiosity have a 20 inch diameter.
The Curiosity is a six-wheeled robot of the size of a car. The main mission objective of this Curiosity is to find out if Mars has supported small life forms... and also if humans can survive on the red planet some day in future!! The Curiosity has most of the senses of the humans.. The parts of Curiosity are very much similar to what a human would need to explore the red planet ( the brain, eyes, body, arm, legs etc...). Here are some more details of Mars Curiosity.
- Name of the Mission : Mars Science Laboratory
- Rover Name : Curiosity Rover
- Size : 10 feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall
- Reach of the arm : 7 feet
- Features : Geology lab, Rocker-bogie suspension, laser to vaporize rocks and a number of cameras
- Objective : To search places on Mars for past or present conditions favorable for life
- Date of launch : 26th November, 2011 7:02 AM PST
- Landing date : 5th August, 2012 10:32 PDT
- Length of Mission on Mars : One Mars year or about 23 Earth Months
Read more about Curiosity below.
1. Curiosity landed one minute ahead of its scheduled after 36 weeks in space. NASA put the official landing time on Mars' surface as 1:32 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Aug. 6, one minute later than the time the space agency estimated months ago.
2. The Curiosity landed on the target, which is at the foot of a mountain which is 3 miles tall and 96 miles wide in the Gale crater.
3. A relay system was employed by NASA to receive confirmation of the landing. The direct line of communications was obstructed by the Earth's horizon as the landing craft approached Mars' surface. So, the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which had been repositioned a few weeks ago to better monitor the landing, relayed confirmation to the space agency's Deep Space Network antenna station in Canberra, Australia, which in turn relayed the news to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
4. Just few minutes after its landing, th Curiosity has sent its first view of Mars, a wide-angle scene of rocky ground near the front of the rover. Later on it starting transmitting high resolution color images after deploying its mast. The rover has 17 cameras in all.
5. The Curiosity rover changed its speed when it entered the final stage of its journey. The space craft approached Mars at a speed of 8000 miles per hour and then when it hit the top of Mar's atmosphere, the planet's gravity pulled it at a speed of 13,200 miles per hour. The rover slowed down to 1.7 miles per hour as it touched down the surface by using its "Sky crane" landing technique.
6. The weather was excellent at the time of descent even though there was a threat of a dust storm.
7. The Curiosity was lowered in a delicate sequence of events by thruster rockets, a 51 foot wide parachute and nylon cords.
8. The Curiosity carries 10 scientific instruments some of them were being used on Mars mission for the first time. One such instrument was laser firing instrument which can check the elemental composition of the rocks from a distance. It will use a drill and scoop at the end of a robotic arm to gather soil and rock interiors, then move the samples to its lab instruments.
9. The total cost of Curiosity mission is around $2.5 billions as per NASA which include the spacecraft development, science investigations and the cost of launch and the operations.
nice one... so much informative...
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