NASA Curiosity Rover Report -- September 19, 2013

A NASA Mars Curiosity rover team member gives an update on developments and status of the planetary exploration mission. The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at 1:31:45 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6, 2012 which includes the 13.8 minutes needed for confirmation of the touchdown to be radioed to Earth at the speed of light. The rover will conduct a nearly two-year prime mission to investigate whether the Gale Crater region of Mars ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance, are the first of their kind on Mars. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop, which are located at the end of its robotic arm, to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments.

There are so many challenges to solve . I'm so glad we're working on them!

[trespire]

It's only this last rover, Curiosity, that's this size. The previous two were much smaller.
Landing such a large payload on Mars is one heck of an achievement, & Curiosity is loaded with scientific instruments.

[astat]

Indeed. And they are making an excellent progress in that direction. Once they land on the Moon, they will not stop there but they will go further.

[hyhhy]

Nice. Seems like something that can help advance Artificial Intelligence research in general.

[mittfh]

The main problem with a human mission isn't getting them there and back, but radiation and lack of gravity. ISS crews are only allowed six months at a time and they're partially protected by the earth's magnetosphere. A mission to Mars would involve months of travel without any such protection. The lack of gravity would also cause such loss of muscle/bone mass on a round trip they'd be very unfit (at best) upon returning to earth's gravity, on life support or dead at worst.

[cruxader]

Well in fact they will be starting an extra long duration space mission in ISS where Mikhail Tyurin & Scott Kelly will be enduring a year in the ISS in 2015. That mission will simulate human exploration beyond our moon. Another is Russia's MARS500 the only thing is that the mission is only isolation here on earth not space

[Carnutzjoe]

Re: Abastein2000, Mars does have a north and South Pole like earth. It has a magnetic flux field with poles due to the minerals in the plant.

[jampip]

There's a fantastic book by Robert Zubrin which talks about how we can get there with 30 year old technology, cheaply, and safely. Worth a read.

[cruxader]

Well actually we need to have any physical content from mars as much as possible. Just like how apollo astronauts brought back some rocks and lunar soil. The fact is we don't just need landers in mars but a rocket as well, so it would be sure somebody must go home.

[alexkantor]

If you wanted to send a program that was roughly one gigabyte in size to curiosity, how long would it take, and what is the rover's upload and download speed?

[JerryR]

What happened between March and September? No updates from Curiosity.

[johncatalano]

I'm thinking this capability would have been easier to develop if they built in instruments to map out the terrain in front using lasers or some type of 'radar'.

[numgun]

Sweet tech, that could come in handy in developing self-driving cars back on earth.

[TheKres]

I'm sure we are 5-10 years from being able to do some crazy shit like that on mars :)

[abastein]

... regarding rovers navigation on mars ... does "earth like" compass shows north on mars?

[deamondeathstone]

Does the lower gravity on Mars make it easier for Curiosity to climb over stuff?

[FozziesRandomReviews]

The rovers much larger than I expected

[astat]

We do. I do not think Chinese will be likely to share the knowledge (including the footage of landing) with the rest of the world. They have a different approach than Americans.

[sandycouch]

Want to have the first hover wrecker service. " Oh yea we can ur vehicle out of the trees."

[ioamador]

There are already autonomous cars here on Earth. Try searching on the Internet for the"Googlr