NASA Mars Rover Will Face Harrowing Descent, Landing
http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-...g/1452157.html
Comedian Stephen Colbert hypes NASA's huge Mars rover landing
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...rover-landing/
I asked a mod to rename the topic to something more appropriate since we are well past the launch...
NASA Mars Rover Will Face Harrowing Descent, Landing
http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-...g/1452157.html
Comedian Stephen Colbert hypes NASA's huge Mars rover landing
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...rover-landing/
Mars rover Curiosity will see red planet like never before
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...-never-before/The huge NASA rover slated to land on Mars Sunday night (Aug. 5) is expected to give scientists and laypeople alike some amazing views of the Red Planet.
The 1-ton Curiosity rover, the heart of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission, will try to determine if Earth's neighbor is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life. To help address this question, the six-wheeled robot is carrying 10 science instruments -- and a wealth of high-tech camera gear.
Like its older Mars rover siblings Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity comes equipped with cameras mounted on a head-like stalk (called the Remote Sensing Mast, or RSM), providing a point of view similar to what a person might experience. Unlike previous rovers, however, Curiosity's imaging system -- called Mastcam -- has features that will offer a whole new look at Mars.
A robot on Mars led from Toulouse
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/20...e-toulouse.phpCuriosity The robot, which should land on Mars monday, will be partly directed from France by the Fimoc (French Instrument Operation Center on Mars), a team dedicated to French instruments on board the "rover".
For this first, engineers and scientists French CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) and CNRS involved in the mission MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) will operate the two French instruments aboard Curiosity: the ChemCam (Chemical camera) and part of the SAM-GC (Sample Analysis at Mars).
"This is extremely important because it is an opportunity to be in control of instruments from Toulouse and our laboratories throughout the mission," said Alain Gaboriaud, project manager of French contributions to MSL. Above all, scientists will ChemCam to maneuver to designate Curiosity and interesting rocks to participate in decisions every day of the mission leadership to steer the robot towards the targets they have selected for further analysis.
The team will work for the first 90 floors (Martian days) of the mission with his American colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena (California). It will then be based in Toulouse and will work alternating with the Americans for their part will be installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico.
Last edited by xav; 08-05-2012 at 03:17 AM.
Mars Curiosity Makes First Discovery—And It’s Crucial for Human Interplanetary Travel
http://gizmodo.com/5931650/mars-curi...anetary-travelThe Mars Curiosity hasn't even made it to Mars yet and it's already made a discovery that vital the future of manned space travel: The exact type of radiation astronauts would likely encounter on their way to the Red Planet. This is so freaking awesome.
Rephrasing Jeff Dunham:
"-what kind of a radiation?
-radiating... radiation!"
38 hours to go? Counting down the hours.![]()
For live updates follow @MarsCuriosity
Last edited by xav; 08-04-2012 at 05:35 PM.