[meteorite-list] LEGO's Mars Curiosity Rover Model Set for New Year's Day Release

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-121813b.html

LEGO's Mars Curiosity rover model set for New Year's Day release
collectspace.com

December 18, 2013 - LEGO will launch its 2014 toy line with a fan-created 
model of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover.

The Danish toy company announced on Wednesday (Dec. 18) that its new "NASA 
Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover" building brick set will be available 
for sale from the LEGO Shop online beginning Jan. 1. The 295-piece model 
will retail for $29.99.

"Hailed by NASA as a 'miracle of engineering' when [the real rover] landed 
on Mars in August 2012, we are thrilled to present a LEGO set based on 
this historic spacecraft," Tim Courtney, LEGO's community manager, wrote 
on the company's website.

The Curiosity model is the fifth product to be released in the LEGO CUUSOO 
line of fan-designed sets.

CUUSOO, which in Japanese means "imagination" or, as it is sometimes translated, 
"wish," is a website that invites LEGO enthusiasts to share their ideas 
for new products. Visitors to the website can vote for their favorite 
model concepts to be considered for the next CUUSOO set.

[Image]
Mechanical engineer Stephen Pakbaz displays the LEGO model of the Mars 
Curiosity rover that he designed and inspired. (LEGO)

"Stephen Pakbaz, a mechanical engineer who worked on the actual Curiosity 
rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab [in Calif.], designed and submitted 
the rover project to LEGO CUUSOO in late 2011," Courtney explained. "His 
project reached 10,000 supporters within two weeks of the landing in August 
2012, and was selected for production by the LEGO Review Board this June."

Pakbaz created the model to further educational outreach of the Curiosity 
mission and to encourage greater public support for space exploration.

"My hope was to have a set produced while the real rover was still active 
on Mars so that the model could help kids learn about the real rover's 
discoveries as they occurred," Pakbaz told collectSPACE in an interview 
last year.

On Jan. 1, the real car-sized Curiosity will be continuing its trek to 
the base of Mount Sharp, a towering mountain at the center of Mars' Gale 
Crater, where the rover landed. Curiosity should reach Mount Sharp by 
mid-2014, mission team members have said.

[Image]
CUUSOO NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover (LEGO)
Pakbaz and LEGO created the model version of the rover to feature many 
of the same details as its full-size Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

"It has a functioning rocker-bogie suspension system and fully articulated 
robotic arm," Pakbaz wrote in his review of the final model for LEGO's 
website. "It can be used to explore the unknown regions of your house 
or office."

"Climbing the outer walls of Carpet Crater and descending into Couch Canyon, 
you will finally be able to determine if your living room was ever capable 
of supporting microbial life!" Pakbaz exclaimed.

Similar to earlier LEGO CUUSOO sets, the rover's building instruction 
booklet also includes background information about Pakbaz, the history 
of Mars exploration and the real Curiosity rover.

"It is a high quality booklet packed with all sorts of images and educational 
information about the rover," Pakbaz said. "My favorite parts are the 
tidbits added to the margins of the building steps that provide extra 
information about the various components of the rover as you build them."

[Image]
LEGO's Curiosity model recreates features on the real car-sized rover, 
including its six-wheel rocker-bogie suspension. (LEGO)
LEGO's Curiosity is the latest overlap between real space exploration 
and the iconic color bricks.

In 2012, CUUSOO released a model of Japan's Hayabusa asteroid-sampling 
probe as created by LEGO fan Daisuke Okubo.

LEGO and NASA have also collaborated on a number of outreach projects, 
including flying minifigures to Mars and Jupiter and launching construction 
sets to the International Space Station.