It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. [131] Funded by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters and Germany's Space Agency (DLR), RAD was developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the extraterrestrial physics group at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany. Its primary purpose is to determine the viability and shielding needs for potential human explorers, as well as to characterize the radiation environment on the surface of Mars, which it started doing immediately after MSL landed in August 2012. Ejected heat shield as viewed by Curiosity descending to Martian surface (August 6, 2012). Curiosity landed in Quad 51 (nicknamed Yellowknife) of Aeolis Palus in the crater Gale. "We're hoping that our study of the Groken drill target will allow us to grok the ancient history of Mars in a little more detail," said planetary geologist Mark Salvatore of the University of Michigan in a pre-drilling update from Oct. 7. MARDI imaging allowed the mapping of surrounding terrain and the location of landing. "In the process of drilling, Curiosity broke the rock, which can sometimes happen when we are close to an edge, but still collected enough sample to perform detailed analyses," said NASA-JPL mission operations engineer Ashley Stroupe in a rover update on Friday. [95], The rover has two pairs of black and white navigation cameras mounted on the mast to support ground navigation. So, the rover creeps along at very slow speeds, and decisions on where it heads are made by a large group of talented scientists. Groken marks the 29th successful drill hole on Mars. [83][126][127][128][129], The Dust Removal Tool (DRT) is a motorized, wire-bristle brush on the turret at the end of Curiosity's arm. Curiosity got into the rock-breaking business with the Groken drill site on Mars. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 15:02 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17 UTC. It is now being used by Getty scientists to analyze a large collection of museum antiques and the Roman ruins of Herculaneum, Italy. We won’t know exactly what it discovered until researchers are about to fully examine the data, but the rock sure looks weird so maybe it’s hiding a secret or two. Additionally, its landing site is near an alluvial fan, which is hypothesized to be the result of a flow of ground water, either before the deposition of the eroded sediments or else in relatively recent geologic history. [88][137] MARDI has a pixel scale of 1.5 m (4.9 ft) at 2 km (1.2 mi) to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) at 2 m (6.6 ft) and has a 90° circular field of view. Mount Sharp rises from the middle of Gale; the green dot marks Curiosity's landing site (north is down). [141][144] The drill carries two spare bits. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. It once met a rock too hard to drill into and the team worked through some pesky mechanical problems in 2018, but were able to save the drill. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. The other camera in the MastCam is the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), which has a 100 mm (3.9 in) focal length, a 5.1° field of view, and can yield 7.4 cm/pixel (2.9 in/pixel) scale at 1 km (0.62 mi). [75], Curiosity transformed from its stowed flight configuration to a landing configuration while the MSL spacecraft simultaneously lowered it beneath the spacecraft descent stage with a 20 m (66 ft) tether from the "sky crane" system to a soft landing—wheels down—on the surface of Mars. A beam of X-rays is then directed at the powder and the crystal structure of the minerals deflects it at characteristic angles, allowing scientists to identify the minerals being analyzed. Sometimes, however, accidents just can’t be helped, and as NASA’s Mars Curiosity mission update website reveals, a recent attempt to drill into a Martian rock to obtain a sample resulted in the rock actually splitting. [10][11] The rover's goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. [141], Since early 2015 the percussive mechanism in the drill that helps chisel into rock has had an intermittent electrical short. The instrument consists of the detector element (DE) and a 14.1 MeV pulsing neutron generator (PNG). [115] MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA), the Canadian aerospace company that built the Canadarm and RADARSAT, were responsible for the engineering design and building of the APXS. It can identify and quantify the abundance of the minerals on Mars. U.S. Lincoln penny on Mars (Curiosity; September 4, 2018). [119] CheMin is one of four spectrometers. The rover has traveled a total of 14 miles across the … In the process of drilling, Curiosity broke the rock, which can sometimes happen when we are close to an edge, but still collected enough sample to perform detailed analyses. [22], Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. From the lab to your inbox. [138], The rover has a 2.1 m (6.9 ft) long robotic arm with a cross-shaped turret holding five devices that can spin through a 350° turning range. [100], ChemCam has the ability to record up to 6,144 different wavelengths of ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light. [66][67][68][69] The landing site coordinates are: 4°35′22″S 137°26′30″E / 4.5895°S 137.4417°E / -4.5895; 137.4417. Mast head with ChemCam, MastCam-34, MastCam-100, NavCam. Mount Sharp is visible in the background (MAHLI, September 9, 2012). The die-away time of neutrons is measured by the DE after each neutron pulse from the PNG. Most recently, Mike served as Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, and has been featured in USA Today, Time.com, and countless other web and print outlets. If the specimen warrants further analysis, Curiosity can drill into the boulder and deliver a powdered sample to either the SAM or the CheMin analytical laboratories inside the rover. As her prize, Ma won a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled. The APXS science team includes members from the University of Guelph, the University of New Brunswick, the University of Western Ontario, NASA, the University of California, San Diego and Cornell University. For starters, traveling 14 miles over the course of 8 years might not sound like much of an accomplishment, but you have to consider that the rover is taking commands from Earth that take up to 20+ minutes to make the trip. Mars Science Laboratory - Curiosity Rover | NASA Wheels on Curiosity. [146] On December 1, 2016, the motor inside the drill caused a malfunction that prevented the rover from moving its robotic arm and driving to another location. Curiosity, on the other hand, was active when it touched down on the surface of Mars, employing the rover suspension system for the final set-down.