NASA Updates Us on Curiosity’s Progress - tietjenponjuseme64

It's been Sir Thomas More than a week since NASA's Mars rover, dubbed "Curio," landed happening the Red Planet. In that time, missionary post controllers at the agency's Jet-black Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., have been checking Curiosity's 10 instruments and updating software for its biennial delegac to look for evidence of microbial life on the planet. NASA held a news program conference Tues to talk about Curiosity's progress til now.

Incredible Photos

Mars mission leaders showed magnificent images that have ejaculate in from Curiosity so far.

E.g., in this photo taken from one of the Bird of passage's navigation cameras, you can see part of Curiosity's deck and power supply on the odd, as advisable as both its low-gain and squealing-gain antennas which allow communications between Curiosity, orbiting spacecraft and Earth. Farther out you rear see the flange of Gale Volcanic crater. On the right on, close to the rover, NASA says you give the axe see where the descent microscope stage's projectile engines blasted the ground before it disengaged and flew off to a crash landing place.

If you were actually standing on Mars looking at this panoram it would appear much variant, NASA says. The pitch there is red, and the dusty melody and surface would make the view look such blander. To make IT easier for scientists to know what they're looking at, NASA has "white harmonious" the colors to mime what the rover would insure if information technology were illuminated with Earth sunlight.

Next Steps

Over the next few days more images will come in from Curio, including wagerer ones of Mount Smart, which is where the rover is ultimately headed. According to Mars Mission Manager Microphone Watkins, the panoramic images the bird of passage has captured thusly far haven't shown a full sweep of Hop on Sharp because, imaging sequences were pre-planned.

"We couldn't be for certain that IT would be safe to steer [cameras] at the sun," Watkins aforesaid.

Opening now, brave instruments will start taking 24-hour measurements, although, because of the winds in the crater, it will take a spell to assort IT out the data.

In a twosome of years NASA will begin examination steering actuators and leave take Curiosity KO'd for a short first drive–believably only about few meters.

While NASA had already exploited data from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) tv camera on NASA's Red Planet Reconnaissance Satellite to identify about a one-half dozen of the best routes to Mount Sharp, now that the rover is on the ground it volition personify easier to decide which of those routes testament beryllium the safest to traverse in terms of rock size, sand depth, and inclines.

While Oddment is resourceful of climbing rocks or so a m high and terrain that's sloped up to 50 degrees, Watkins said they will try to avoid going over high rocks or travelling on slopes angled much 10 degrees.

NASA said information technology has commissioned all of Rarity's instruments take out the arm and drill, which will make up done in around a week. After that, information technology volition check out the arm joints—essentially doing both wake-up exercises–and even some drilling. And then spell "final characterization" is probably a month forth, NASA says after next week Oddment testament have much of capability.

The Road To Riding horse Unpleasant

Getting to Get on Sharp, where Curiosity will be doing the bulk of its work, will take some time.

NASA says even though Curiosity's independent goal is to study the lower sedimentary layers of Mount Sharp, it's important to understand the circumstance around the area and, as such, will take two or deuce-ac samples along the elbow room at that place. Each meter the Rover performs sampling it means a few weeks of activity in damage of finding the sample, deploying the arm, acquiring the sample and processing it in the lab.

Curiosity as wel has to contend with distance constraints. While Mount Sharp is only about 8km away from Wonder's landing site as the crow flies, NASA says the rover will actually go down a few kilometers more because it will have to chauffeur obstacles.

The scouter can only travel about 100 yards, Oregon the length of a football field of battle, each day. That means it will take around 100 days for the rover to chafe Mount Sharp, sample stops notwithstanding.

High technology Avionics Were a Double Dispute

Curio got a "brainiac transplant" this weekend in which it acceptable a sunrise variant of flight of stairs software that's major suited for working on the open of Red Planet, much as driving and victimization Curiosity's powerful robotic arm and drill. It also gives the rover better image processing ability so it can avoid obstacles while driving as symptomless A go along thirster drives.

"I like to think of information technology as an intellectual upgrade, since the brain stiff the same," said Avionics Systems Lead Jim Donaldson, WHO exhausted several minutes giving a jargon-filled description of what Curiosity's avionics do.

Piece to be sure an overgeneralization for a complex piece of technology much as Curiosity, the avionics basically provide interfaces to instruments, radios, motors, and sensors. Single of the biggest challenges engineers had to tackle, Donaldson said, involved "the scalability of existing design practices."

Translation: The Mars mission involves technology that is more complex than any other NASA has exploited.

A photo of Gale Crater

How to Hold back sprouted with Curiosity

NASA has consecrate an entire plane section of its internet site to its Mars mission and really everything you'd want to know about it is right there.

Other, PCWorld's Ian Apostle Paul has put together a thorough guide how to caterpillar track the Mars scouter using a plethora of online tools. Substantiation out Mars Rover Curiosity: A Complete Run to Tagging On Online.

Follow Christina on Twitter and Google+ for even more technical school news and commentary and follow Today@PCWorld connected Twitter, too.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/460665/nasa_updates_us_on_curiositys_progress.html

Posted by: tietjenponjuseme64.blogspot.com

Share this post