[meteorite-list] NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover to Explore Mars (MSL)

[Pete Pete]

MOST excellent!

 

Way-to-go, NASA!

See you in August, Curiosity!



 
 


> From: baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:23:11 -0800
> Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover to Explore Mars (MSL)
> 
> 
> 
> Nov. 26, 2011
> 
> Dwayne Brown 
> Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-1726
> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 
> 
> Guy Webster
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
> 818-354-6278
> guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov 
> 
> RELEASE: 11-397
> 
> NASA LAUNCHES MOST CAPABLE AND ROBUST ROVER TO EXPLORE MARS
> 
> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the 
> Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a 
> car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air 
> Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST. 
> 
> "We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced 
> scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden 
> said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars, 
> and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities 
> for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where 
> we've never been."
> 
> The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane 
> touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale 
> Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after 
> landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever 
> offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the 
> chemical ingredients for life. 
> 
> "The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our 
> trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said MSL Project Manager 
> Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 
> Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally 
> stable and power positive."
> 
> The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then, 
> with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of 
> Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey 
> to Mars.
> 
> "Our first trajectory correction maneuver will be in about two weeks," 
> Theisinger said. "We'll do instrument checkouts in the next several 
> weeks and continue with thorough preparations for the landing on Mars 
> and operations on the surface."
> 
> Curiosity's ambitious science goals are among the mission's many 
> differences from earlier Mars rovers. It will use a drill and scoop 
> at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of 
> rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into 
> analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover. Curiosity carries 
> 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the 
> science-instrument payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and 
> Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, 
> such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental 
> composition from a distance, and an X-ray diffraction instrument for 
> definitive identification of minerals in powdered samples.
> 
> To haul and wield its science payload, Curiosity is twice as long and 
> five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. Because of its one-ton 
> mass, Curiosity is too heavy to employ airbags to cushion its landing 
> as previous Mars rovers could. Part of the MSL spacecraft is a 
> rocket-powered descent stage that will lower the rover on tethers as 
> the rocket engines control the speed of descent.
> 
> The mission's landing site offers Curiosity access for driving to 
> layers of the mountain inside Gale Crater. Observations from orbit 
> have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, 
> indicating a wet history. 
> 
> Precision landing maneuvers as the spacecraft flies through the 
> Martian atmosphere before opening its parachute make Gale a safe 
> target for the first time. This innovation shrinks the target area to 
> less than one-fourth the size of earlier Mars landing targets. 
> Without it, rough terrain at the edges of Curiosity's target would 
> make the site unacceptably hazardous.
> 
> The innovations for landing a heavier spacecraft with greater 
> precision are steps in technology development for human Mars 
> missions. In addition, Curiosity carries an instrument for monitoring 
> the natural radiation environment on Mars, important information for 
> designing human Mars missions that protect astronauts' health.
> 
> The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate 
> in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at 
> JPL. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in 
> Florida managed the launch. NASA's Space Network provided space 
> communication services for the launch vehicle. NASA's Deep Space 
> Network will provide spacecraft acquisition and mission 
> communication.
> 
> For more information about the mission, visit: 
> 
> http://www.nasa.gov/msl
> 
> For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
> 
> http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn
> 
> -end-
> 
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