Hasta La Gadget!

The Curiosity rover sent to the planet Mars earlier this month has been snapping photos since it first set down upon the surface, creating now a 130 photo panorama of the crater in which it currently resides. Here we’re seeing some surprisingly sharp photos taken with the cameras which we learned about last week, each of them lovely in their own respect. As the Curiosity rover travels through the Gale Crater it will continue to create individual shots as well as a larger panorama – one at first, then more as it moves through its environment.

The landscape here is barren, of course, and red as the nickname the planet retains. Here you’ve got 79 images making up just part of the full 130 photo panorama stitched together by NASA and the camera aboard the rover. The rest of the images are currently headed back to Earth, the delay having to do with the data limit NASA is bound to – see the camera post linked above for more information. You’ll be able to see the full stitched image by clicking the preview here.

The full panorama was photographed back on August 9th in relatively quick succession. Each of the photos are being sent one after the other to NASA and the full image should be constructed by the end of the week. Meanwhile the rover continues its mission to study the planet with readings of the environment and samples of material from the atmosphere and surface.

Check out our Curiosity timeline below to see what else this lovely Mars rover has been up to in the short amount of time it’s been on the planet, and give a hand to NASA as they continue to make their way – and our way – into space!

[via NASA]

New Mars photos add to 130 photo Curiosity panorama is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Is there life on Mars? NASA’s latest mission to the red planet might well answer that question, or perhaps the more pertinent question, was there life on Mars. At 10:02 AM EST on November 26th last year, the space agency’s Mars Science Laboratory (to give the mission its full name) set off on its eight-month journey to the red planet. The most advanced equipment ever sent to the planet — and the biggest-ever rover — should allow exploration of some of the most interesting regions, over far larger distances than ever previously covered. On arrival, after negotiating a tricky landing, the mobile laboratory (that’s Curiosity) will spend a Martian year (687 Earth days) analyzing rock samples and seeking evidence of conditions suitable for microbial life or — we can live in hope — actual evidence of the same. After the break, we take a look at some of the key events over the first seven days on the planet’s surface.

Continue reading Life on Mars: One week of Curiosity

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Life on Mars: One week of Curiosity originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it comes to operating in orbit around the Earth, many satellites rely on solar power. The satellites are launched with their solar panels stowed away, and then the panels are extended to gather power once in orbit. Solar arrays allow a spacecraft to gather power while in space, and are one of the most important components of space flight.

NASA has announced that its Space Technology Program has selected two companies for contract negotiation to develop advanced solar array systems for powering spacecraft. The two companies are Deployable Space Systems (DSS) and ATK Space Systems. According to NASA, high-power solar electric propulsion that generates power with advanced solar array systems is one of the key capabilities for extending human presence in space.

Both firms are intended to offer innovative approaches for the development of next-generation, large-scale solar arrays and mechanisms to deploy the solar arrays in space. NASA says that the next generation arrays will dramatically reduce the weight and stowed volume of the arrays compared to current systems. The systems are also expected to significantly improve functionality and efficiency compared to existing solar arrays with the new systems having the ability to produce hundreds of kilowatts of power.

NASA conducted a competitive selection process with two acquisition phases. Under phase 1, both companies will develop their solar array system technology over the next 18 months. Once phase 1 is completed successfully, both companies and other companies able to demonstrate a comparable degree of technical maturity will move to phase 2. Phase 2 will prove flight readiness with an in-space demonstration of a modular and extensible solar array system. The awards granted in phase 1 range between $5 million and $7 million.

NASA chooses solar array system development proposals is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is having its “Windows Update” moment, with the Mars exploration vehicle undergoing a huge “brain transplant” this weekend to better equip it for the challenges ahead. The new version of the flight software will installation today, and NASA expects the process to be completed by Monday, tweaking how Curiosity drives as well as how its robotic arm operates.

Curiosity has not one but two computers, added protection through redundancy should one fail. They’re hardly Core i7 behemoths, either; rather than well-traveled mainframes, the rover’s twin brains prioritize stability and protection from radiation over raw compute power. At their heart is a 200MHz RAD750 processor, paired with 256KB of EEPROM, 256MB of DRM and 2GB of flash memory, specifications that make even a mid-range smartphone look expansive.

However, where your Android phone might have problems handling the radiation involved in traveling to and crossing Mars, Curiosity’s systems do not. Specially radiation-hardened memory is used so as to prevent data loss from the difficult conditions.

In fact, the only data loss involved is intentional. The limited storage space meant that Curiosity couldn’t carry both its flight and its operational software simultaneously; the former, now no longer of use since the tricky “Seven Minutes of Terror” landing has been completed, will be deleted to make room for the new on-Mars brain.

With its new skill-set, Curiosity will be able to fully use its arm and drill, along with better image processing so as to avoid obstacles during driving. NASA’s goal is to make the rover self-autonomous, able to create its own path rather than relying on pre-configured goals beamed over from Earth.

Unfortunately for those of us enjoying the photos sent back from Mars, there are unlikely to be more until the software update is completed. NASA opted to freeze scientific research until the computers had been fully brought up to speed, and will be using the downtime to identify the first areas of exploration from the 360-degree panoramas already recorded.

Curiosity Rover gets “brain transplant” to explore on its own is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Right after the folks at NASA successfully landed their Curiosity rover on the red planet, entrepeneur and real-life Tony Stark made it clear that he’ll be there between 12 and 15 years from now. “We know it’s possible to get there,” he said, “You would be moving to Mars, so a round trip ticket, it has to be no more than half a million dollars, so roughly, a middle-class house in California, and at this point, I would say, I know it’s possible.” He let it be known via Nightline that he was confident “at this point” that it could be done, that people would be living on Mars sometime in the future, and that it’s our “life raft” for the future of the species.

Musk’s company SpaceX recently became the first 3rd party (non government-run) group to successfully dock with the International Space Station and is also currently working with NASA to send more ships to NASA equipment in the future. This next-generation space-race has SpaceX and a set of other interested parties looking to profit from the final frontier as fast as possible. With that and the news that we are, indeed, on Mars once again, made a situation in which Musk HAD to make a comment.

“I’m confident at this point that it can be done. I think we’ll be able to send, probably, the first people to Mars in roughly 12 to 15 years. That’s my estimate.” – Musk

The plan at the moment, should Musk’s initiative line up with the reality of tech in the day, is to colonize the planet and terraform for the future of humanity.

“Mars is the only place in the solar system where it’s possible for life to become multi-planetarian. We could make Mars like Earth…it’s more than our life raft, it’s like backing up the biosphere. … I think it would be the most difficult thing that humanity has ever tried to do.” – Musk

For those of you who are fans of the Entertainment part of this equation, a bit of trivia: Musk’s SpaceX research and design lab appears in Iron Man 2 as parts of Stark Industries. Musk appears in the film as well, speaking with Stark about the Merlin engines (real-life tech made by SpaceX) as well as electric jet. Everything is achievable through technology!

Check out the timeline below to see more Musk adventures as well – he’s going places and we’re going with him. For science!

Humans on Mars in 12 years says Elon Musk is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.