Hasta La Gadget!

A new video has been compiled by Spaceflight101.com showing Curiosity’s final minutes of terror in glorious HD (though a dearth of frames and lack of stabilization make it a bit herky-jerky). It’s an assembly of all the high-res photos taken by the buggy on the way down to its now familiar perch, rolling at the not-exactly-HFR speed of 4 fps, but still trumping a previous low-res thumbnail version. It gives a much clearer, rover’s-eye-view of the journey, starting with the heat shield ejection and finishing with the dusty, butterfly-like touchdown. Check it out below the break to see the precarious descent — and don’t forget your Dramamine.

Continue reading Curiosity landing video assembled from high-res images (video)

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Curiosity landing video assembled from high-res images (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA’s Curiosity Rover got its first chance to fire its ChemCam laser at a rock laying about 2.5 m away from the rover. The rock Curiosity used it to laser on is about 7 cm wide, roughly the size of a tennis ball and has been dubbed Coronation rock. The powerful laser burst from Curiosity vaporized the surface of the rock revealing details of the rocks basic chemistry.

The laser blast was target practice for ChemCam helping operators to ensure that Curiosity and its frickin’ laser beam is ready for the real work of investigating the geology of Mars. The main goal of Curiosity as it roams around the red planet on its year-long main mission will be to help determine if Mars could’ve ever harbored life. The ChemCam laser was developed in cooperation between the US and France and is a very critical part for Curiosity’s investigation.

The Coronation rock was previously called N165. This rock was chosen seemingly for no other reason that it was large and nearby. This rock has no particular science value and is a simple chunk of Martian basalt volcanic rock. Curiosity shot the rock with 30 pulses of infrared laser light during a 10 second span.

Each laser burst blasted a tiny spot on the surface of the rock with over 1,000,000 W of power for five billionths of a second. The ChemCam laser used its telescopic lens to view the component colors released by the laser bursts to determine the atomic elements present in the rock. The scientists report, “We got a great spectrum of Coronation – lots of signal.” The first scientific target for Curiosity and its laser will be exposed bedrock on the ground next to Curiosity that was uncovered by the rover’s rocket-powered landing crane that help it land safely on the surface of the red planet.

[via BBC News]

Curiosity shoots laser at Coronation rock on Mars is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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As the vista on Mars gradually gets ever clearer, and the system checks continue to show that the rover is in good stead, the team behind Curiosity will be increasingly eager to stretch its legs wheels. The first trip might be just a cautious few meters, but plans for a more adventurous jaunt have just been revealed. The first location in Curiosity’s sights is an area referred to as Glenelg, which, based on initial pictures, offers three different geological characteristics, as well as potentially being an area where water used to be present. The site is only 1,300 feet (400 meters) from where the rover landed, but it could still take several weeks to get there. This is merely a quick dash compared to the next leg of its journey, which sees Curiosity heading out to an area called Mount Sharp — a large mound of layered rock which is hoped to contain visible geology potentially dating back millions of years. With seven kilometers (4.4 miles) lying between the rover and the mountain’s foothills, it’ll be a much longer journey, but one that could provide the first real evidence of the planet’s ability to host, or have hosted, life.

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NASA maps out proposed travel plans for Curiosity, decides to head for the hills originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 19 Aug 2012 09:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With all the excitement of the seven minutes of terror and glory, it’s easy to forget that there were seven years of suffering and hard work to make it all happen. Seven years of the life of people like Adam Steltzner or our friend Mark Rober, the iPad costume guy. More »

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