Wednesday, 8 August 2012

[www.keralites.net] "CURIOSITY" LANDS ON MARS

"CURIOSITY" LANDS ON MARS

NASA rover "Curiosity" lands on Mars

The Mars science rover Curiosity landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m.

Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission

seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, NASA said. Mission

controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles said they received signals

relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-or-break descent

and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact crater. NASA has described

the feat as perhaps the most complex ever in robotic spaceflight.The $2.5 billion Curiosity project,

formally called the Mars Science Laboratory, is NASA's first astrobiology mission since the

1970s-era Viking probes. The landing, a major victory for a U.S. space agency beleaguered by

budget cuts and the recent loss of its space shuttle program, was greeted with raucous applause

and tears of joy by jubilant engineers and scientists at mission control.(Reuters)

Nicknamed Curiosity and scheduled for launch, the rover has a 7-foot arm tipped with

a jackhammer and a laser to break through the Martian red rock. What really makes

it stand out: It can analyze rocks and soil with unprecedented accuracy.

In this image from NASA TV, shot off a video screen, one of the first images from

the Curiosity rover is pictured of its wheel after it successfully landed on Mars.

REUTERS/Courtesy NASA TV/Handout

This first image from the Mars rover Curiosity on the surface of Mars shows the rover's

shadow as seen by a navigation camera. NASA released the image just minutes after the

rover's successful Aug. 5 PDT, 2012 landing. CREDIT: NASA

The Mars science rover Curiosity landed on the Martian surface shortly after 10:30 p.m.

Pacific time on Sunday (1:30 a.m. EDT Monday/0530 GMT) to begin a two-year mission

seeking evidence the Red Planet once hosted ingredients for life, NASA said.

Mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles said they received

signals relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-or-break

descent and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact crater. NASA

has described the feat as perhaps the most complex ever in robotic spaceflight.

Image shot off a video screen from NASA TV shows members of the Mars Science

Laboratory (MSL) team celebrating inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility

for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory after

receiving the first few images from the Curiosity rover, in Pasadena, California August 5, 2012.

Mission controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory said they received signals relayed by a

Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-or-break descent and landing

attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact crater. REUTERS/Courtesy NASA TV/Handout

(UNITED STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE

HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS

RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Image shot off a video screen from NASA TV shows members of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)

team celebrating inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility for NASA's Mars Science

Laboratory Curiosity rover at Jet Propulsion Laboratory after receiving the first few images

from the Curiosity rover, in Pasadena, California August 5, 2012. Mission controllers at the Jet

Propulsion Laboratory said they received signals relayed by a Martian orbiter confirming that

the rover had survived a make-or-break descent and landing attempt to touch down as

planned inside a vast impact crater. One of the first images sent from the rover is shown

on screen in the background. REUTERS/Courtesy NASA TV/Handout

(UNITED STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE

HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY

AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

This artist's concept features NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile

robot for investigating Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Curiosity will

land near the Martian equator about 10:31 p.m., on August 5, 2012 in the late evening

This artist's concept depicts the rover Curiosity, of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission,

as it uses its Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument to investigate the composition of

a rock surface. REUTERS/ NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout

Ten feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast, Curiosity is about twice the size

of previous rovers Spirit and Opportunity, weighs 1 ton and is loaded with 10 science

instruments. Its formal name: Mars Science Laboratory, or MSL.

An engineering model of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is seen from the rear in

a sandy, Mars-like environment named the Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion

Laboratory in Pasadena, California July 25, 2012. The real Curiosity rover, part of the

Mars Science Laboratory mission, is on its way to the Red Planet, with a planned

arrival and landing on the evening of August 5 PDT, early morning August 6

EDT. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY SOCIETY)

A full scale model of the Mars Science Laboratory's (MSL) Curiosity rover is

pictured at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calfiornia August 2, 2012.

The rover is set to land on Mars in the late evening of August 5, 2012. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

(UNITED STATES - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY)

The rover is scheduled to arrive at the mineral-rich Gale Crater next August,

8 months after embarking on the 354-million-mile voyage aboard an Atlas V rocket.

The rover also has a weather station for updates on Martian temperature, humidity

and wind, as well as a radiation detector that will be especially useful for

planning human expeditions.

Despite all its fancy upgrades, Curiosity will go no faster than the one-tenth-mile-per-hour

logged by past Martian rovers. But it is expected to venture more than 12 miles during

its two-year mission. If it's still working after that, it will keep on trucking,

possibly all the way up the crater's 3-mile peak.

As received

TRICHY PRASANNAN

www.keralites.net

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