Curiosity

Catching up with the MARS Curiosity rover

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While in the US I had the privilege of listening to Nagin Cox from the mission operations team for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) – NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover. Who? OK, first a bit of background on her … Nagin graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering and a BA in Psychology … Read more

There are hints that something amazing has just been discovered on Mars

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The quote of the moment is … ‘This data is gonna be one for the history books. It’s looking really good,’ said John Grotzinger, chief scientist in the Curiosity team, in an interview with NPR. Mr Grotzinger would not be drawn on what the discovery actually was. He told NPR that his team won’t be ready to … Read more

The First Color Panorama from Mars by Curiosity

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OK yes, I’m a bit late to the game with this one, it has been around for some time … but this is MARS, I just had to do it. This is indeed a strange gravelly place with a large mountain in the distance. Curiosity has landed on target near the edge of 150-km wide Gale Crater, with Mount Sharp on the horizon being the … Read more

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snaps pic of Curiosity Rover’s Descent

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NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has captured an impressive picture of the Curiosity rover’s nail-biting and extremely successful descent. This was no accident, the MRS team had been planning this since last March, they reckoned they had a 60% chance of getting this shot. Now leat you wonder, MRO is a satellite flying high above … Read more

17 Cameras and one complete Chemistry Lab on wheels … successfully landed on MARS

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If you don’t by now know, there where the heck have you been for the last 24 hours … on MARS? Well we have a slightly higher resolution image now (left) taken by one of the vehicle’s lower-fidelity, black-and-white Hazard Avoidance Cameras – or Hazcams. “Curiosity’s landing site is beginning to come into focus,” said John … Read more