. | . |
|
by Staff Writers Washington (AFP) Oct 09, 2012 NASA's Curiosity rover has uncovered a "bright object" in the red soil of Mars that might be a part of the robotic explorer that broke off, the US space agency said. "The rover team decided to refrain from using the rover's robotic arm on Oct. 8 due to the detection of a bright object on the ground that might be a piece from the rover," NASA said Monday in a statement. "Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities." The rover had parked at a sand pit late last week, where it was to scoop up soil in order to clean and test its geological sampling hardware. Curiosity is on a two-year mission to explore the Red Planet and learn whether conditions there might have been able to support life in the past. The $2.5 billion craft landed in Gale Crater on August 6, opening a new chapter in the history of interplanetary exploration.
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
|
. |
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement |