And not just any old wimpy office presentation pointer laser, either. No, Cursiotiy’s ChemCam system includes ba serious, rock vaporaizing weapons grade zap gun intended to examine samples at the molevular level. Or fend off tentacled monsters with a thirst for human blood:
Category Archive: Mars
Aug 17 2012
Curiosity has a secret
Mars Curiosity is quite a machine, a lander, rover, mobile chemical laboratory and robot geologist. But its designers were human, so hidden in the wheels is a geeky tech-y joke. What is it?
Aug 14 2012
The end of cursioity
Don’t worry, Mars Curiosity the rover is alive and well and on the verge of beginning the mission it was so ably designed to do! There’s every reason to expect Curiosity will perform brilliantly, and that’s good, because there’s nothing much slated for Mars after it. When Curiosity finally seizes up, likely frozen in place, starved for …
Aug 13 2012
Mars rocks and rolls
There’s a bit of a lively debate in geology about tectonic plates and how rare or common they may be. Since earth is the only planet we’ve studied in-depth, the winners of that debate are yet to be announced. But one geophysicist has found evidence for nascent plate tectonics on a certain nearby world, and the …
Aug 10 2012
Curiosity EDL in pics, rover begins its mission
Curiosity is revving up her primary cameras and testing the treads. Soon she’ll trundle off the landing site and start prospecting for Martian gold. I’ve collected a few of the best EDL pics below.
Aug 07 2012
NASA releases video of Curiosity’s descent
To those of you already saturated, I’m sorry for posting so much on this. But I’ve been waiting for it for years, and NASA/JPL is really delivering the goods. There’s a hi-res version of this in the works that chief scientist Mike Malin claims “will just be exquisite.”
Aug 06 2012
Awesome pic of Curiosity descending
Lovely picture taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity was descending to Gale Crater. Click image for info at Red Orbit.
Aug 06 2012
Curiosity’s mission
You can’t bring Mars to the lab, but you can bring a lab to Mars! In fact I still can’t quite believe that EDL scheme worked so well! But that’s what Curiosity really is, a scientific laboratory, and here’s a few details on the goals and philosophy behind it.
Aug 05 2012
Mars Curiosity: Countdown!
Live video for mobile from Ustream Update 11:08 Central: Curiosity now reported inside orbit of Martian satellite Deimos, about 14,000 miles away. The moment of truth is close at hand. As the countdown clock shows, Curiosity will soon enter the Martian stratosphere. The Internet is buzz with excitement and no small amount of anxiety. The …
Aug 05 2012
Mars, bitches!
COUNTDOWN CLOCK WIDGETS The moment of truth is close at hand. As the countdown clock shows, Curiosity will soon enter the Martian stratosphere and the Internet is abuzz with excitement and no small amount of anxiety. The seven minutes of terror will soon begin for real. There’s a lot riding on it, both literally and figuratively.
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