Mars Curiosity Rover - Mission Progress

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20131029.html#.UnBA-VPTDSd

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity completed its first two-day autonomous drive Monday, bringing the mobile laboratory to a good vantage point for pictures useful in selecting the next target the rover will reach out and touch.



The low ridge that appears as a dark band below the horizon in the center of this scene is a Martian outcrop called "Cooperstown," a possible site for contact inspection with tools on the robotic arm of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity.

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Lots 'O Water

Estimates suggest that approximately two pints of water is available per cubic foot of soil.

Man 'O Live.

Corn Can Be Grown On Mars.

Ooooba

fO shO fO evA

Corn 'it' 'is'

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Curiosity seems to be stuck.


NASA diagnosing problem on Mars rover Curiosity

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Certainly a little nerve-wracking, but Curiosity sounds like it's rolling again...

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-340

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

That's great news!

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rOZZ
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update..

http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/msl/mars-rover-curiosity-20131209.html#.UqYYHifTDSc


NASA Rover Results Include First Age Measurement on Mars and Help for Human Exploration

NASA's Curiosity rover is providing vital insight about Mars' past and current environments that will aid plans for future robotic and human missions.

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Thanx for the link Lynn:) Great work Curiosity does...

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rOZZ
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Julie, Your Welcome :-)

This is news also. Mars, is Mars...

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed to scientists slender dark markings -- possibly due to salty water – that advance seasonally down slopes surprisingly close to the Martian equator.

Maybe a dried up lake bed, with microbes.

http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/mro/mars-reconnaissance-orbiter-20131210.html

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Just watched a good episode of NOVA about the construction of Curiosity and some of the initial test results. It was very educational.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

That picture of a tire really shows it has taken a beating. I'm surprised they aren't thicker metal than that.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I guess you're referring to the cost of the payload weight for the journey, but still... I think they should have beefed those tires up a bit more.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

It seems it has crossed the dune.
Curiosity
Tullio

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It seems it has crossed the dune.
Curiosity
Tullio

It has.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1594

Cheers.

+1!

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rOZZ
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The initial journey yes, but also the power to weight ratio required on the surface. I'm sure they will modify it for future missions.

Good point. I didn't factor in the surface operations.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

It seems it has crossed the dune.
Curiosity
Tullio

It has.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1594

Cheers.

I'm glad it made the crossing safely. This reminded me of an old Lost in Space episode when the Robinson family was crossing some vast extraterrestrial plain in their chariot.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Earth, as seen from Mars

Picture taken by Curiosity Rover. You can zoom in on the pic as well.

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rOZZ
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Earth, as seen from Mars

Picture taken by Curiosity Rover. You can zoom in on the pic as well.

That's neat. It's hard for me to understand why the moon looks so far away from Earth in that picture. It seems like it should be much closer. Obviously, I don't understand the scale and ratio of these things as viewed from Mars, but I'm surprised.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Curiosity update.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is continuing its traverse toward enticing science destinations after climbing over a dune spanning a gap in a ridge.

pic's inside link

http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/msl/curiosity-martian-dune-20140211/index.html
NASA's Curiosity Drives On After Crossing Martian Dune

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NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has put it in reverse, completing its first-ever long backward drive.

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover caught its own shadow in this image taken just after completing a backward drive of 329 feet (100.3 meters) on the 547th Martian day, or sol, of the rover's work on Mars (Feb. 18, 2014).
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech View full size image
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has put it in reverse, completing its first-ever long backward drive. The 1-ton Curiosity rover covered 329 feet (100 meters) in reverse on Tuesday (Feb. 18). The maneuver — carried out over relatively smooth and benign ground — was designed to test out a strategy for reducing wear on the robot's six metal wheels, which have accumulated dings and holes at an increasing rate over the last few months, NASA officials said.

Curiosity landed in August 2012 to determine if the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. Mission scientists have already answered this question in the affirmative, announcing last year that an area near the rover's landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago.

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rOZZ
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