Author Topic: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread  (Read 1026437 times)

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #860 on: 01/01/2013 05:00 am »
Curiosity's New Year Greeting for Times Square

Published on Dec 31, 2012
JPLNews

New Year's Eve revelers watching giant screens in New York's Times Square saw a special Happy New Year greeting from Mars, which was 206 million miles away as of Dec. 31, 2012. The video is silent and formatted to fit the Times Square screens.

« Last Edit: 01/01/2013 05:01 am by catdlr »
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Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #861 on: 01/04/2013 11:54 pm »
01.04.2013

Curiosity Rover Explores 'Yellowknife Bay'


PASADENA, Calif. - After imaging during the holidays, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity resumed driving Jan. 3 and pulled within arm's reach of a sinuous rock feature called "Snake River."
Snake River is a thin curving line of darker rock cutting through flatter rocks and jutting above sand. Curiosity's science team plans to get a closer look at it before proceeding to other nearby rocks.

"It's one piece of the puzzle," said the mission's project scientist, John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "It has a crosscutting relationship to the surrounding rock and appears to have formed after the deposition of the layer that it transects."

The drive during the mission's 147th Martian day, or sol, on the Red Planet took Curiosity about 10 feet (3 meters) northwestward and brought the mission's total driving distance to 2,303 feet (702 meters). The rover is within a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay," which is a flatter and lighter-toned type of terrain from what the mission crossed during its first four months inside Gale Crater.

During a holiday break for the rover team, Curiosity stayed at a location within Yellowknife Bay from which the rover took images of its surroundings. The team is evaluating possible first targets for use of Curiosity's hammering drill in coming weeks. The drill will collect powdered samples from the interior of rocks for analysis by instruments inside the rover.

"We had no surprises over the holidays," said the mission's project manager, Richard Cook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. "Now, Curiosity is back on the move. The area the rover is in looks good for our first drilling target."

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess whether areas inside Gale Crater ever offered a habitable environment for microbes. JPL, a division of Caltech, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1407
« Last Edit: 01/04/2013 11:54 pm by robertross »

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #862 on: 01/05/2013 04:48 am »
Curiosity rover studies rocks and a 'flower' on Mars

By By Alan Boyle,

MSNBChttp://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/03/16329185-curiosity-rover-studies-rocks-and-a-flower-on-mars?lite


Quote
I initially suspected that the flower was a tiny shred of plastic from the rover itself. Such a shred popped up in October. At that time, experts at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory surmised that the plastic may have been a bit of wrapping that was knocked loose from the Mars Science Laboratory's descent stage during the spacecraft's August landing. The plastic was thought to have fallen on top of the rover, and then dropped to the ground weeks later.

That's what led me to go with the plastic-scrap hypothesis. However, some of the folks commenting on the pictures noted that the object seemed to be embedded in the rock — which would argue against my hypothesis. So I put in an inquiry with Guy Webster, who serves as JPL's main spokesman for NASA's Mars missions.

A couple of hours later, Webster emailed me the verdict: "That appears to be part of the rock, not debris from the spacecraft."

« Last Edit: 01/05/2013 04:49 am by catdlr »
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Offline kevin-rf

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #863 on: 01/05/2013 01:56 pm »
Reminds me of a gysum flower.
If you're happy and you know it,
It's your med's!

Offline wjbarnett

Reminds me of a gysum flower.
That's exactly what I was thinking too!
Jack

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Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #866 on: 01/08/2013 12:50 am »
NASA's Big Mars Rover Makes First Use of its Brush

Image advisory: 2013-009                                                                     Jan. 7, 2013

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-009&cid=release_2013-009

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed first-time use of a brush it carries to sweep dust off rocks.

Nearing the end of a series of first-time uses of the rover's tools, the mission has cleared dust away from a targeted patch on a flat Martian rock using the Dust Removal Tool.

The tool is a motorized, wire-bristle brush designed to prepare selected rock surfaces for enhanced inspection by the rover's science instruments. It is built into the turret at the end of the rover's arm. In particular, the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and the Mars Hand Lens Imager, which share the turret with the brush and the rover's hammering drill, can gain information after dust removal that would not be accessible from a dust-blanketed rock.

Choosing an appropriate target was crucial for the first-time use of the Dust Removal Tool. The chosen target, called "Ekwir_1," is on a rock in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Mars' Gale Crater. The rover team is also evaluating rocks in that area as potential targets for first use of the rover's hammering drill in coming weeks.

Images of the brushed area on Ekwir are online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16565 and http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16566 .

"We wanted to be sure we had an optimal target for the first use," said Diana Trujillo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the mission's activity lead for the Dust Removal Tool. "We need to place the instrument within less than half an inch of the target without putting the hardware at risk. We needed a flat target, one that wasn't rough, one that was covered with dust. The results certainly look good."

Honeybee Robotics, New York, N.Y., built the Dust Removal Tool for Curiosity, as well as tools for two previous Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which included wire brushes plus rock-grinding mechanisms.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project is using Curiosity to investigate whether the study area within Gale Crater has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

Follow the mission on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
[email protected]

- end -
« Last Edit: 01/08/2013 12:51 am by catdlr »
Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline kevin-rf

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #867 on: 01/08/2013 01:07 am »
Mental note, read caption before looking at picture, I thought I was looking at a dinosaur egg...
If you're happy and you know it,
It's your med's!

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #868 on: 01/10/2013 04:34 pm »
Curiosity Rover Report (Jan. 10, 2013): Giving Mars the Brush-off

Published on Jan 10, 2013
JPLNews
NASA's Curiosity rover dusts off a rock on Mars for the first time.

« Last Edit: 01/10/2013 04:34 pm by catdlr »
Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #869 on: 01/14/2013 06:57 pm »
MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-016

NASA HOSTS JAN. 15 TELECONFERENCE ON CURIOSITY ROVER PROGRESS

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 10 a.m.
PST (1 p.m. EST) Tuesday, Jan. 15, to provide an update about the
Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater.

The Mars Science Laboratory Project and its Curiosity rover are five
months into a two-year prime mission to investigate whether
conditions may have been favorable for microbial life.

For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their
name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia at
[email protected] or call NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011.

Audio and visuals of the event will be streamed live online at:

http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

and

http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl

Visuals will be available at the start of the event at:

http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon

For information about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/msl

and

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

   
-end-
« Last Edit: 01/14/2013 06:58 pm by catdlr »
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Offline jacqmans

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #870 on: 01/15/2013 06:16 pm »
RELEASE: 13-022

NASA MARS ROVER PREPARING TO DRILL INTO FIRST MARTIAN ROCK

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is driving toward a
flat rock with pale veins that may hold clues to a wet history on the
Red Planet. If the rock meets rover engineers' approval when
Curiosity rolls up to it in coming days, it will become the first to
be drilled for a sample during the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The size of a car, Curiosity is inside Mars' Gale Crater investigating
whether the planet ever offered an environment favorable for
microbial life. Curiosity landed in the crater five months ago to
begin its two-year prime mission.

"Drilling into a rock to collect a sample will be this mission's most
challenging activity since the landing. It has never been done on
Mars," said Mars Science Laboratory project manager Richard Cook of
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "The drill
hardware interacts energetically with Martian material we don't
control. We won't be surprised if some steps in the process don't go
exactly as planned the first time through."

Curiosity first will gather powdered samples from inside the rock and
use those to scrub the drill. Then the rover will drill and ingest
more samples from this rock, which it will analyze for information
about its mineral and chemical composition.

The chosen rock is in an area where Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam)
and other cameras have revealed diverse unexpected features,
including veins, nodules, cross-bedded layering, a lustrous pebble
embedded in sandstone, and possibly some holes in the ground.
The rock chosen for drilling is called "John Klein" in tribute to
former Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager John W. Klein,
who died in 2011.

"John's leadership skill played a crucial role in making Curiosity a
reality," said Cook.

The target is on flat-lying bedrock within a shallow depression called
"Yellowknife Bay." The terrain in this area differs from that of the
landing site, a dry streambed about a third of a mile (about 500
meters) to the west. Curiosity's science team decided to look there
for a first drilling target because orbital observations showed
fractured ground that cools more slowly each night than nearby
terrain types do.

"The orbital signal drew us here, but what we found when we arrived
has been a great surprise," said Mars Science Laboratory project
scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena. "This area had a different type of wet environment than
the streambed where we landed, maybe a few different types of wet
environments."

One line of evidence comes from inspection of light-toned veins with
Curiosity's laser-pulsing Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument,
which found elevated levels of calcium, sulfur and hydrogen.

"These veins are likely composed of hydrated calcium sulfate, such as
bassinite or gypsum," said ChemCam team member Nicolas Mangold of the
Laboratoire de Planetologie et Geodynamique de Nantes in France. "On
Earth, forming veins like these requires water circulating in
fractures."

Researchers have used the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to
examine sedimentary rocks in the area. Some are sandstone, with
grains up to about peppercorn size. One grain has an interesting
gleam and bud-like shape that have brought it Internet buzz as a
"Martian flower." Other rocks nearby are siltstone, with grains finer
than powdered sugar. These differ significantly from pebbly
conglomerate rocks in the landing area.

"All of these are sedimentary rocks, telling us Mars had environments
actively depositing material here," said MAHLI deputy principal
investigator Aileen Yingst of the Planetary Science Institute in
Tucson, Ariz. "The different grain sizes tell us about different
transport conditions."

JPL manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington.
To see an image of the rock, visit:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16567

For more information about the mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/msl

Follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity


and


http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity

Jacques :-)

Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #871 on: 01/16/2013 12:39 am »
Mars Rover Curiosity's Team to Receive Space Foundation Award

01.15.13

PASADENA, Calif. -- The NASA mission that had the nation holding its breath as it tested an ingenious but never-before-used landing technique, and continues to amaze with new discoveries about Mars has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Space Foundation's John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory project is using the rover Curiosity to investigate whether the study area within Gale Crater has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

"We are recognizing the NASA Mars Science Laboratory mission team for its aggressive and technologically advanced exploration of another planet," said Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham. "This incredible mission will yield valuable science about conditions on Mars and enable critical technologies for future missions."

The award is given annually to the person or organization that has made the most significant accomplishment in advancing the exploration of space during the previous year. It will be presented April 8 during the opening ceremony of the 29th National Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The John L. "Jack" Swigert, Jr., Award for Space Exploration honors NASA Apollo astronaut Jack Swigert. The Space Foundation, founded in 1983 in part to honor Swigert's memory, created the Swigert Award in 2004 in tribute to his lasting legacy of space exploration. Previous recipients include NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Team, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the California Institute of Technology, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover team from JPL, President George W. Bush, the LCROSS mission and, in 2012, NASA's Kepler Mission.

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the Mars Science Laboratory for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl . More information about the Swigert Award is online at:

http://www.spacefoundation.org/media/press-releases/space-foundation-honors-nasa-mars-science-laboratory-mission-team-john-l-jack .

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #872 on: 01/18/2013 06:09 pm »
Curiosity Rover Report (Jan. 18, 2013):
Curiosity Finds Calcium-Rich Deposits

Published on Jan 18, 2013
NASA's Curiosity rover finds calcium deposits on Mars similar to those seen on Earth when water circulates in cracks and rock fractures.



« Last Edit: 01/18/2013 06:10 pm by catdlr »
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Offline JohnFornaro

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #873 on: 01/18/2013 07:07 pm »
Keep those reports coming Catdir.  They are excellent.  Putting the still images together to simulate motion is a great idea.  I noticed that there are not round pebbles like you'd find in a creek bed here.  Some of the rocks in the images did have slightly rounded corners.  No skipping stones tho.
Sometimes I just flat out don't get it.

Offline hop

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #874 on: 01/18/2013 08:40 pm »
The last telecon has a lot more detail http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/28512078

This weeks planetary society hangout with Emily Lakdawalla and MSL team member Dr. Joel Hurowitz is also good http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2013/20130117-planetary-society-hangout-curiosity-drilling.html

Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #875 on: 01/19/2013 02:19 am »
01.18.2013

Ms. Curiosity Goes to Washington

PASADENA, Calif. - It's an all-American, once-every-four-years tradition: the inauguration of a president. On Monday, Jan. 21, the Red Planet will join the traditional red-white-and-blue pageantry when a life-size model of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity appears in the inaugural parade after President Barack Obama takes the oath of office.
The rover model will be accompanied by four members of the team from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that safely landed Curiosity on the Martian surface last August. The four JPLers representing Curiosity and the Mars Science Laboratory, the spacecraft that transported the rover to the Red Planet, are:

Richard Cook-project manager
Jennifer Trosper-mission manager
Allen Chen--Flight Dynamics and Operations Lead for the entry, descent, and landing team
Bobak Ferdowsi-flight director
In addition to the JPL team, current and former NASA astronauts will appear in the parade, along with a model of Orion, the multi-purpose capsule that will take astronauts farther into space than ever before.

A full schedule of NASA-related events for Inauguration Day and the weekend leading up to it is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/news/inauguration.html .



http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1412

Online catdlr

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #876 on: 01/20/2013 03:51 am »
NASA Preps for Inaugural Parade

Published on Jan 19, 2013
Video of preparations at the Joint Base Anacostia Bolling in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 19 for the two NASA floats scheduled to appear in Monday's Presidential Inaugural Parade. The floats will feature full-scale models of NASA's Orion, the multi-purpose capsule that will take our astronauts farther into space than ever, and the Curiosity rover now on Mars.

« Last Edit: 01/20/2013 03:51 am by catdlr »
Tony De La Rosa, ...I'm no Feline Dealer!! I move mountains.  but I'm better known for "I think it's highly sexual." Japanese to English Translation.

Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #877 on: 01/25/2013 02:21 am »
01.24.2013
Mars Rover Curiosity Uses Arm Camera At Night

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has for the first time used the camera on its arm to take photos at night, illuminated by white lights and ultraviolet lights on the instrument.
Scientists used the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) instrument for a close-up nighttime look at a rock target called "Sayunei," in an area where Curiosity's front-left wheel had scuffed the rock to provide fresh, dust-free materials to examine. The site is near where the rover team plans to begin using Curiosity to drill into a rock in coming weeks. The images of the rock Sayunei and of MAHLI's calibration target were taken on Jan. 22 (PST) and received on Earth Jan. 23.

The MAHLI, an adjustable-focus color camera, includes its own LED (light-emitting diode) illumination sources. Images of Sayunei taken with white-LED illumination and with illumination by ultraviolet LEDs are available online at:
PIA16711 and
PIA16712 .

"The purpose of acquiring observations under ultraviolet illumination was to look for fluorescent minerals," said MAHLI Principal Investigator Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego. "These data just arrived this morning. The science team is still assessing the observations. If something looked green, yellow, orange or red under the ultraviolet illumination, that'd be a more clear-cut indicator of fluorescence."

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1416
« Last Edit: 01/25/2013 02:22 am by robertross »

Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #878 on: 01/28/2013 11:31 pm »
01.28.2013

Curiosity Maneuver Prepares for Drilling

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has placed its drill onto a series of four locations on a Martian rock and pressed down on it with the rover's arm, in preparation for using the drill in coming days.
The rover carried out this "pre-load" testing on Mars yesterday (Jan. 27). The tests enable engineers to check whether the amount of force applied to the hardware matches predictions for what would result from the commanded motions.

The next step is an overnight pre-load test, to gain assurance that the large temperature change from day to night at the rover's location does not add excessively to stress on the arm while it is pressing on the drill. At Curiosity's work site in Gale Crater, air temperature plunges from about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius) in the afternoon to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius) overnight. Over this temperature swing, this large rover's arm, chassis and mobility system grow and shrink by about a tenth of an inch (about 2.4 millimeters), a little more than the thickness of a U.S. quarter-dollar coin.

The rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., sent the rover commands yesterday to begin the overnight pre-load test today (Monday).

"We don't plan on leaving the drill in a rock overnight once we start drilling, but in case that happens, it is important to know what to expect in terms of stress on the hardware," said JPL's Daniel Limonadi, the lead systems engineer for Curiosity's surface sampling and science system. "This test is done at lower pre-load values than we plan to use during drilling, to let us learn about the temperature effects without putting the hardware at risk."

Remaining preparatory steps will take at least the rest of this week. Some of these steps are hardware checks. Others will evaluate characteristics of the rock material at the selected drilling site on a patch of flat, veined rock called "John Klein."

Limonadi said, "We are proceeding with caution in the approach to Curiosity's first drilling. This is challenging. It will be the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars."

An activity called the "drill-on-rock checkout" will use the hammering action of Curiosity's drill briefly, without rotation of the drill bit, for assurance that the back-and-forth percussion mechanism and associated control system are properly tuned for hitting a rock.

A subsequent activity called "mini-drill" is designed to produce a small ring of tailings -- powder resulting from drilling -- on the surface of the rock while penetrating less than eight-tenths of an inch (2 centimeters). This activity will not go deep enough to push rock powder into the drill's sample-gathering chamber. Limonadi said, "The purpose is to see whether the tailings are behaving the way we expect. Do they look like dry powder? That's what we want to confirm."

The rover team's activities this week are affected by the difference between Mars time and Earth time. To compensate for this, the team develops commands based on rover activities from two sols earlier. So, for example, the mini-drill activity cannot occur sooner than two sols after the drill-on-rock checkout.

Each Martian sol lasts about 40 minutes longer than a 24-hour Earth day. By mid-February, the afternoon at Gale Crater, when Curiosity transmits information about results from the sol, will again be falling early enough in the California day for the rover team to plan each sol based on the previous sol's results.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess whether areas inside Gale Crater ever offered a habitable environment for microbes. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1419
« Last Edit: 01/28/2013 11:32 pm by robertross »

Offline robertross

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Re: LIVE: MSL Curiosity Post Landing SOL 1 onwards Update Thread
« Reply #879 on: 02/05/2013 02:22 am »
02.04.2013
Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Weekend Test on Mars Was Preparation
 to Drill a Rock


PASADENA, Calif. - The bit of the rock-sampling drill on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity left its mark on a Martian rock this weekend during brief testing of the tool's percussive action.
The successful activity, called a "drill-on-rock checkout" by the rover team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, is part of a series of tests to prepare for the first drilling in history to collect a sample of rock material on Mars.

An image of the bit mark on the rock target called "John Klein" is available online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16717 .

Another preparatory test, called "mini drill," will precede the full drilling. The mini drill test will use both the rotary and percussive actions of the drill to generate a ring of rock powder around a hole. This will allow for evaluation of the material to see if it behaves as a dry powder suitable for processing by the rover's sample handling mechanisms.

During a two-year prime mission, researchers are using Curiosity's 10 science instruments to assess whether the study area in Gale Crater on Mars ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1421

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