Curiosity gets a gravimeter—repurposed instrument can now measure rock density

The Curiosity rover landed on Mars without a gravimeter on board. But researchers realized that its accelerometers--normally used to determine the position of the rover--could be repurposed to measure the density of the rock it was passing over. These measurements can help scientists understand how Gale Crater and Mt. Sharp came to be.

CREDITS

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editor/animator/narrator
Chris Burns

supervising producer
Sarah Crespi

script
Chris Burns
Sarah Crespi

special thanks
Kevin Lewis

camera operator
Meagan Cantwell

citation
K. W. Lewis et al., Science 2019

curiosity photos/footage
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS

mars atmosphere animation
NASA/MAVEN/Lunar and Planetary Institute

music
Chris Burns

[Sanguinarius]

The peak in the middle of the crater is the bounce back from asteroid impact, taller on mars than on earth impact craters because of the lower gravity and thinner atmosphere.

[--Paws--]

Can you apply gravimetry with the density of snow and ice to determine if an avalanche is imminent or not?

[ericsu]

The absolute gravimeter measures the gravitational constant.

The interference pattern can not be explained by the theory if the speed of light remains constant upon reflection.

More info on:

[dh]

How is Opportunity?... Is he alive?...

[kty]

Why they can't mount a microscope to that thing and look for life

[XRL_GUY]

I'm proud these people are so smart.

[redberries]

Science Magazine's people need to improve their grammar [...or check their titles for typos]

[oakstreetpv]

Scientists complain about the media and general public saying "it's just a theory". They need to stop doing it when they are speculating about things like this. It is a hypothesis, at best. It is not a theory in the scientific definition.