. Mars Exploration News .




.
MARSDAILY
Newest NASA Mars Mission Connects Past and Future
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 03, 2012

File image.

NASA's newest Mars mission, landing in three days, will draw on support from missions sent to Mars years ago and will contribute to missions envisioned for future decades. "Curiosity is a bold step forward in learning about our neighboring planet, but this mission does not stand alone. It is part of a sustained, coordinated program of Mars exploration," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"This mission transitions the program's science emphasis from the planet's water history to its potential for past or present life."

As the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft places the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars next week, NASA will be using the Mars Odyssey orbiter, in service since 2001, as a relay for rapidly confirming the landing to Curiosity's flight team and the rest of the world.

Earth will be below the Mars horizon from Curiosity's perspective, so the new rover will not be in direct radio contact with Earth. Two newer orbiters also will be recording Curiosity's transmissions, but that data will not be available on Earth until hours later.

When Curiosity lands beside a mountain inside a crater at about 10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. PDT Aug. 6), the 1-ton rover's two-year prime mission on the surface of Mars will begin.

However, one of the rover's 10 science instruments, the Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD, already has logged 221 days collecting data since the spacecraft was launched on its trip to Mars on Nov. 26, 2011.

"Our observations already are being used in planning for human missions," said Don Hassler of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., principal investigator for Curiosity's RAD.

The instrument recorded radiation spikes from five solar flare events spewing energetic particles from the sun into interplanetary space.

Radiation from galactic cosmic rays, originating from supernova explosions and other extremely distant events, accounted for more of the total radiation experienced on the trip than the amount from solar particle events.

Inside the spacecraft, despite shielding roughly equivalent to what surrounds astronauts on the International Space Station, RAD recorded radiation amounting to a significant contribution to a NASA astronaut's career-limit radiation dose.

Curiosity's main assignment is to investigate whether its study area ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. To do that, it packs a science payload weighing 15 times as much as the science instruments on previous Mars rovers.

The landing target, an area about 12 miles by 4 miles (20 kilometers by 7 kilometers), sits in a safely flat area between less-safe slopes of the rim of Gale Crater and the crater's central peak, informally called Mount Sharp.

The target was plotted to be within driving distance of layers on Mount Sharp, where minerals that formed in water have been seen from orbit.

"Some deposits right inside the landing area look as though they were deposited by water, too," said John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, project scientist for Curiosity.

"We have a great landing site that was a strong science contender for earlier missions, but was not permitted for engineering constraints because no earlier landing could be targeted precisely enough to hit a safe area inside Gale Crater.

"The science team feels very optimistic about exploration of Mount Sharp and the surrounding region that includes the landing ellipse."

Mission engineers designed a sky crane maneuver, lowering Curiosity on nylon cords from a rocket backpack because the rover is too heavy to use the airbag system developed for earlier rovers.

"We know it looks crazy," said Adam Steltzner of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, leader of the team that developed the system.

"It really is the result of careful choices." By designing the aeroshell enclosing Curiosity to create lift and be steerable, engineers were able to build a system that lands much more precisely instead of dropping like a rock.

Related Links
Mars Science Laboratory
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries






.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



MARSDAILY
Driving on Mars, There's an App for That
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Aug 01, 2012
Upon entering the Land of Oz, Dorothy Gale met several creatures along the way who needed her help to find what they were missing. One of those, the Scarecrow, needed a brain. With the help of his friends and the great wizard this oversight was finally rectified. In the magical world of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, those in the Mars Exploration Program also have their S ... read more


MARSDAILY
US flags still on the moon, except one: NASA

Another Small Step for Mankind

Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

Plans to revisit Moon impeded by financial difficulties

MARSDAILY
China's manned spacecraft in final preparations for mid-June launch

China's Long March-5 carrier rocket engine undergoes testing

China to land first moon probe next year

China launches Third satellite in its global data relay network

MARSDAILY
Microgravity Science Glovebox Marks Anniversary with 'Hands' on the Future

Russia Launches Space Freighter to Orbital Station

A Fish Friendly Facility for the ISS

Russian cargo ship manages to dock at ISS on second try

MARSDAILY
Fly New Horizons through the Kuiper Belt

Hubble Discovers a Fifth Moon Orbiting Pluto

Hubble telescope spots fifth moon near Pluto

New Horizons Doing Science in Its Sleep

MARSDAILY
Giant Ice Avalanches On Iapetus Provide Clue To Extreme Slippage Elsewhere In The Solar System

River networks on Titan point to a puzzling geologic history

Cassini Spots Daytime Lightning on Saturn

Saturn's Rings are Back

MARSDAILY
Space Technologies Tackle Human and Environmental Security Problems

Chinese mapping satellite handed over to surveying authority

France orders Google to hand over Street View data

European data center for GMES Sentinel satellites at DLR

MARSDAILY
Space tourism seen as billion-dollar biz

NASA to Announce New Agreements for Next Phase of Commercial Crew Development

NASA Goddard's Innovation Lab: Creating a Future

Science fiction comes to life in Italian lab

MARSDAILY
RIT Leads Development of Next-generation Infrared Detectors

UCF Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor

Can Astronomers Detect Exoplanet Oceans

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Dust


Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

.

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