// February 8th, 2013 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
The Mars Curiosity Rover has drilled a hole in Mars for the first time yesterday. Curiosity used the drill at the tip of its robotic arm to drill a small .8 inch (2 centimeter) hole into the Martian rock affectionately named “John Klein”. The so-called “mini-drill test” marked the first time Curiosity used both the […]
// January 16th, 2013 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
No spacecraft has ever penetrated the rocky surface of Mars, or any planet for that matter, but that is about to change. In the past few weeks, Curiosity Rover has been stationed in a region called Yellowknife Bay, which features fractured ground with different temperature swings compared to other nearby terrain – and plenty of […]
// November 20th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
NPR reported today that NASA has some ‘”big news” to report – but will not release the finding until they’ve had more time to confirm the results. According to NASA: “We’re getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting, The science team is busily chewing away on […]
// November 5th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
NASA’s Curiosity Rover has sent back a high-res photo of itself in the Gale crater on Mars. The image was taken by Curiosity’s MAHLI hand held camera which sits on the end of the rover’s extendable arm. MAHLI took a total of 55 pictures which were stitched together to create the stunning hi-res self portrait. […]
// October 31st, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover conducted its first soil sample analysis using its miniaturized X-Ray diffraction instrument that is a part of CheMin instrument (a miniature lab on wheels). The soil sample was collected from an area known as Rocknest in the Gale Crater. The analysis revealed that the sample is a weathered volcanic type similar […]
// October 19th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
Unrelated to last week’s “shiny object” find, this week Curiosity Rover took three scoops from the Martian soil and found several bright, shiny particles in the sample. In an area called Rocknest, the rover was sampling and analyzing soil when it ran across a small, shiny particle. Scooping was halted and after NASA determined that […]
// September 27th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
NASA announced today (on the evening of Sol 51), that Curiosity Rover has found evidence of an ancient flowing stream on Mars at a few sites. Round-shaped rocks, called clasts, have lead Geologists to the conclusion that they have been moved about by water. The clasts are too heavy to have been moved by wind.
// September 25th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
This past weekend, on route to Glenelg, the Curiosity Rover’s first target on Mars, Curiosity arrived at the “Jake Matijevic” rock where it stopped and probed the rock with its huge robotic arm to determine its chemical composition. Curiosity also blasted the specimen with its Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer. Then Curiosity shot laser pulses at […]
// September 12th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
The $2.5 billion dollar, nuclear powered Mars Curiosity Rover is not autonomous. On Earth, NASA engineers manually drive the robot around the surface of Mars. If you are picturing a NASA geek, red hand clinched tightly around a joystick, with a ear-to-ear grin – you’d only be partially correct. Driving Curiosity is not done in […]
// September 11th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
On sol 33 (the 33rd Martian day), as one of the last steps in its inspection process, the Mars Curiosity Rover removed the clear dust cover from its camera lens (and put it back on for lens protection). The difference in picture clarity is remarkable. The pictures below were taken about five feet above the […]
// September 8th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
Curiosity Rover has certainly left its mark on the planet Mars. Photos taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have been released showing the tire tracks left by Curiosity on the planet’s surface. The bluish color spots are where Curiosity landed (named Bradbury landing after famous science fiction writer, Ray Bradbury) blowing Mars dust away from […]
// September 5th, 2012 // No Comments » // Astronomy and Space News
As part of the Mars Science Lab Mission (MSL), Curiosity is now sending back telescopic images from Mars. This image is from a test series used to characterize the 100-millimeter Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity rover. It was taken on Aug. 23, 2012, and looks south-southwest from the rover’s landing site. The 100-millimeter Mastcam has […]
