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. [Read more…]
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 seven minutes of terror are about to begin for real. There’s a lot riding on it, both literally and figuratively. Some good links to keep tabs on are Mars Google Hangout (This has been a lot of fun tonight), NASA interactive event schedule, JPL TV, and NASA TV.
To understand the importance of this mission – and Curiosity is about as important a science experiment as we’ve ever created – here’s a quick peek at the fascinating history of our solar system’s most hospitable world, outside of the one we call home. Afterall, you have this much time to kill…
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. [Read more…]
Curiosity will be landing, or trying to land, at about 12:30 AM Central Time in the US. A press conference is in progress here, the panelist all opened by saying they’re having to remind themselves to breathe. I’ll be adding to this post throughout the day.
At a press conference today Richard Cook described what is planned. The deep space tracking network will be relaying real time communication with the rover, the first opportunity to hear from the vehicle is likely to be within seconds of landing. Shortly after 12:31 AM engineers will probably know if the landing was a success and there could be images returned a little after that time. On the next pass by an orbiter about two hours later images will probably be returned by the fish eye HazCam.
The older William Shatner gets the more I like him. Kirk was cool and all, but it’s Shatner’s unique combo of gifted actor, great voice, and a guy who can laugh at himself plus get you to laugh along that sold me. Cosmic Log posted a great video, now below the fold, where Shatner and other Trekkie actors marvel at the MSL and the rover scheduled to land precariously this weekend. Enjoy. [Read more…]
NASA has retasked the Odyssey orbiter to track the Mars Science Lab carrying the Curiosity, the next generation rover is charging its lithium ion batteries to final 100% capacity courtesy of the solar array on the MSL as we speak. There’s been some confusion on the exact date and time of the seven minutes of terror hope leading to Curiosity’s landing, the current 14 minute light-speed lag between earth and Mars doesn’t exactly help. Official landing times, live stream feeds, and press conference schedule below: [Read more…]
If Curiosity survives its harrowing descent early next month in one functional piece, it will bring an alien world into focus like no other probe has done before. [Read more…]
The Mars rover Opportunity stirred in the midst of its slumber in the long Martian winter and snapped this beautiful composite image. One month from today it will be joined by the much larger Curiosity and the search for ancient life will begin in earnest. Assuming Curiosity survives NASA’s Rube Goldberg reentry and descent contraption. And a new study suggests signs of ancient life could be lurking just under the surface for it to find: [Read more…]
PZ posted this and it’s amazing. It also makes me nervous just to watch, I’ll probably be a gelatinous mass of conflicting nerve impulses in August when it happens.
You wouldn’t think of snow on Mars. It’s plenty cold enough, the problem is Mars is so dry it makes the most arid desert on earth look like a swamp. But that’s what apparently happens in deep Martian winter and the snow is diverse: [Read more…]