Curiosity - Mars landing

[Rorschach]

yep, cool way to recycle

[Super Nova]

Great that mankind can observe a solar transit of one of it's moons. Viewing this on another world is just remarkable considering just over 100 years ago we could not fly.



NASA's Curiosity rover is observing Martian moon transits, the first of which involved the moon Phobos grazing the sun's disk. The event was observed on Martian day, or sol, 37 (September 13, 2012) using Curiosity's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, equipped with special filters for directly observing the sun

[boxy]

That capture must have been long planned (you don't just happen upon a partial eclipse like that). I wonder what use it was?

[Super Nova]

That capture must have been long planned (you don't just happen upon a partial eclipse like that). I wonder what use it was?

You are correct.

Photos of several partial solar eclipses on Mars snapped recently by NASA's Curiosity rover may help scientists better understand the Red Planet's interior structure and composition, researchers say.

The 1-ton Curiosity rover captured Mars' tiny moon Phobos taking a nibble out of the sun's disk last Thursday (Sept. 13). Several days later, it watched additional partial eclipses caused by Phobos and Deimos, the Red Planet's other minuscule satellite (though images from these last two celestial events are not available yet).

Scientists will use these photos to nail down the orbits of Phobos and Deimos precisely, and to determine how much they have changed over the last few years, researchers said. This information, in turn, could yield key insights about the interior of Mars, which remains largely mysterious.

[Super Nova]

Going to plan.

Continuing Toward Glenelg
Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:28:40 PM UTC+0100


On Sol 49 (Sept. 25), Curiosity drove about 102 feet (31 meters), bringing the mission's total amount of driving to about 1,204 feet (367 meters). The rover science team's current focus is on getting Curiosity to the Glenelg area, and the drive took the rover eastward toward that destination.

Activities on Sol 49 before the drive included observation of a wheel track. After the drive, cameras on the mast observed the sky, as well as terrain at the rover's new location. A post-drive raw image from Curiosity's right Navigation Camera is at http://1.usa.gov/Pk6naH.

Curiosity continues to work in good health. Sol 49, in Mars local mean solar time at Gale Crater, ends at 3:49 p.m. Sept. 25, PDT.

[Super Nova]

Now we are really starting down the road to understand Mar a little better. It looks like it was very similar to the Earth in the early days.

The landing site of the Mars rover Curiosity was once covered with fast-moving and possibly waist-high water that could have possibly supported life, NASA scientists have announced.

While planetary scientists have often speculated that the now-desiccated surface of Mars was once wet, Curiosity cameras provided the first proof that flowing water was present on a least one part of Mars for "thousands or millions of years".
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z27kqSO65o

[Super Nova]

Kiwi sighting on Mars

Bloody NZers, they pop pop-up everywhere. They need to lay of the piss.

There aren't many places intrepid Kiwi travellers haven't set foot on in this world and now they're moving on to others.

A New Zealander following the travels of Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity has unearthed possible evidence of a Kiwi hiding on the red planet.

Ned Walker, a New Zealander living in Australia, said he was surprised at the find, but it was unmistakable.

"I have a huge interest in the Mars Curiosity Rover and I like to look at the raw images Nasa uploads onto its site each day from the rover's cameras.

‘‘I was amazed to find in today's raw images what can only be described a Kiwi."

Walker thought the "monumental find", would be of interest to all New Zealanders.

The picture shows a shadow cast by a martian rock that looks like the very distinctive native New Zealand bird.

[Rorschach]

hey.... I was thinking re the shadow maybe it was a baby one of these.



or

[Super Nova]

An insight into the communications of Curiosity.

Article closes with .... Talk about roaming. Maybe NASA should take over telecommunications here on Earth. Just a thought.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z2Ath678WA

[Super Nova]

Life on Mars? Maybe not ... NASA downplays discovery