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[Launch audio: “And liftoff of the Atlas 5 with Curiosity”]
NASA's newest Mars rover blasted off November 26th from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Standing seven feet tall and weighing in at 2,000 pounds, Curiosity dwarfs NASA's previous rovers in both size and scientific prowess.
It's powered by a plutonium fuel source and packs a laser that can vaporize rocks from several feet away to measure their composition. It also carries several high-tech instruments to pick up samples and make definitive identifications of minerals on the Martian surface.
The rover is scheduled to land inside Mars's Gale Crater in August 2012. It will spend nearly two years exploring the sedimentary layers inside Gale Crater, which are thought to preserve an extensive geologic history of Mars.
Curiosity's $2.5-billion mission is designed to examine conditions when water was more abundant on the Red Planet, and to gather information about whether Mars was ever hospitable to life.
But easing a 2,000-pound vehicle onto the surface of another planet is a huge challenge. NASA plans to lower the rover from a hovering, rocket-powered sky crane. If this elaborate scheme works, Curiosity will be off and roving.
—John Matson
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
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5 Comments
Add CommentMy only concern is with the landing. The process looks to be complex and I have to wonder how many things could go wrong. We'll find out in August 2012!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI concur. The landing plan seems a bit like someone wanted to find out how many ways he could trash $2.5 billion.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDoesn't look like the KISS principal... more like a cascade of miracles, but I guess the reward is worth the risk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrom what I understand of it, Martian gravity is strong enough to make a fully powered descent expensive in terms of fuel, which limits the payload. Unfortunately, Martian gravity isn't strong enough to hold onto much of an atmosphere, so parachutes don't work except at high velocity. That's part of the reason it's so hard to land on Mars. This sky crane idea may well prove to be a good compromise choice in that it allows for large payloads to be precision landed, rather than the airbag bouncy ball bagatelle of previous missions. Doesn't make this mission any less nerve wracking, but I hope it works!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not the Hale Crater? Now THAT would be interesting.
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