Showing posts with label mars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mars. Show all posts
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
How Much Would It Cost To Live On Mars? [Infographic]
Mars Lander Concept
Wikimedia Commons
View the Infographic
Monday, August 6, 2012
NASA rover successfully lowered to surface of Mars
CNET - In a technological tour de force, NASA's nuclear-powered Curiosity rover
was lowered to the surface of Mars by a rocket-powered flying crane
late Sunday to kick off a $2.5 billion mission.
PASADENA, Calif.--In an unparalleled technological triumph, a one-ton, nuclear-powered rover the size of a small car was lowered to the surface of Mars on the end of a 25-foot-long bridle suspended from the belly of a rocket-powered flying crane late Sunday to kick off an ambitious $2.5 billion mission.
With flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory anxiously watching telemetry flowing in from Mars, 154 million miles away and 13.8 minutes after the fact, the Mars Science Laboratory rover -- Curiosity -- radioed confirmation of touchdown at 10:32 p.m. PDT (GMT-7).
"Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars!" said mission control commentator Allen Chen as the flight control team erupted in cheers and applause.
"It's just absolutely incredible, it doesn't get any better than this," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "I was a basket case in there, I was really on pins and needles.
"It's a huge day for the nation, it's a huge day for all of our partners and it's a huge day for the American people," he said. "Everybody in the morning should be sticking their chests out, saying 'that's my rover on Mars.' Because it belongs to all of us."
The target landing zone was Gale Crater near the base of a
three-mile-high mound of layered rock that represents hundreds of
thousands to tens of millions of years of martian history, a frozen
record of the planet's changing environment and evolution.
While the rover's exact position was not immediately known, there were no obvious problems during the dramatic entry, descent, and landing, and Curiosity presumably made it down inside a predicted footprint measuring four miles wide and 12 miles long -- a pinpoint landing compared with previous missions.
The seven-minute descent to the surface provided high drama as flight controllers monitored telemetry from the spacecrat, relayed through NASA's aging Mars Odyssey spacecraft. As each major milestone ticked off, engineers clapped and cheered.
"We have acquired the ground with the radar," Chen reported. "Heat shield has separated, we have found the ground. We're standing by to prime the engines in preparation for powered flight. Six-point-nine kilometers and descending..."
A few minutes later, the rover and its descent stage fell away from the vehicle's braking parachute and eight rocket engines ignited to stabilize the craft and slow the fall to touchdown velocity.
"We are in powered flight," Chen reported. "We're at an altitude of one kilometer and descending about 70 meters per second... 500 meters in altitude... standing by for sky crane. We found a nice flat place, we're coming in ready for sky crane. Down to 10 meters per second, 40 meters altitude."
A few moments later, just above the surface, the rocket-powered sky crane lowered Curiosity to the surface on the end of a 25-foot-long bridle, a landing technique never before attempted.
While engineers did not expect pictures right away, blurry low-resolution thumbnails from the rover's rear hazard avoidance cameras were transmitted within minutes of touchdown showing a wheel on the surface of Mars.
"Odyssey data is still strong," Chen reported. "Odyssey is nice and high in the sky. At this time we're standing by for images..."
"We've got thumbnails," someone said.
"We are wheels down on Mars!" Chen reported.
"Oh my God," someone said in the background.
Exploring the crater floor and climbing Mount Sharp over the next two years, Curiosity will look for signs of past or present habitability and search for carbon compounds, the building blocks of life as it is known on Earth.
More
PASADENA, Calif.--In an unparalleled technological triumph, a one-ton, nuclear-powered rover the size of a small car was lowered to the surface of Mars on the end of a 25-foot-long bridle suspended from the belly of a rocket-powered flying crane late Sunday to kick off an ambitious $2.5 billion mission.
With flight controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory anxiously watching telemetry flowing in from Mars, 154 million miles away and 13.8 minutes after the fact, the Mars Science Laboratory rover -- Curiosity -- radioed confirmation of touchdown at 10:32 p.m. PDT (GMT-7).
"Touchdown confirmed. We're safe on Mars!" said mission control commentator Allen Chen as the flight control team erupted in cheers and applause.
"It's just absolutely incredible, it doesn't get any better than this," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "I was a basket case in there, I was really on pins and needles.
"It's a huge day for the nation, it's a huge day for all of our partners and it's a huge day for the American people," he said. "Everybody in the morning should be sticking their chests out, saying 'that's my rover on Mars.' Because it belongs to all of us."
During the final hundred feet of entry, descent
and landing, the Curiosity rover was lowered from its rocket-powered
"sky crane" directly to the surface of Mars as seen in this computer
animation.
(Credit:
NASA graphic)
While the rover's exact position was not immediately known, there were no obvious problems during the dramatic entry, descent, and landing, and Curiosity presumably made it down inside a predicted footprint measuring four miles wide and 12 miles long -- a pinpoint landing compared with previous missions.
The seven-minute descent to the surface provided high drama as flight controllers monitored telemetry from the spacecrat, relayed through NASA's aging Mars Odyssey spacecraft. As each major milestone ticked off, engineers clapped and cheered.
"We have acquired the ground with the radar," Chen reported. "Heat shield has separated, we have found the ground. We're standing by to prime the engines in preparation for powered flight. Six-point-nine kilometers and descending..."
A few minutes later, the rover and its descent stage fell away from the vehicle's braking parachute and eight rocket engines ignited to stabilize the craft and slow the fall to touchdown velocity.
"We are in powered flight," Chen reported. "We're at an altitude of one kilometer and descending about 70 meters per second... 500 meters in altitude... standing by for sky crane. We found a nice flat place, we're coming in ready for sky crane. Down to 10 meters per second, 40 meters altitude."
A few moments later, just above the surface, the rocket-powered sky crane lowered Curiosity to the surface on the end of a 25-foot-long bridle, a landing technique never before attempted.
While engineers did not expect pictures right away, blurry low-resolution thumbnails from the rover's rear hazard avoidance cameras were transmitted within minutes of touchdown showing a wheel on the surface of Mars.
"Odyssey data is still strong," Chen reported. "Odyssey is nice and high in the sky. At this time we're standing by for images..."
"We've got thumbnails," someone said.
"We are wheels down on Mars!" Chen reported.
"Oh my God," someone said in the background.
Exploring the crater floor and climbing Mount Sharp over the next two years, Curiosity will look for signs of past or present habitability and search for carbon compounds, the building blocks of life as it is known on Earth.
More
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Newly Found Meteorites Came From Mars, Scientists Confirm
PopSci - Meteorite chunks that fell in Morocco last summer came from Mars, yielding an unexpected 15-pound sample of the Red Planet, scientists confirmed Tuesday. It’s the first time in 50 years — and only the fifth time ever — that scientists have chemically confirmed that pieces of rock came from Mars.
The rocks were found in December and analyzed by a committee of meteorite experts. The biggest one weighs a little more than 2 pounds.
It’s a bonanza for scientists (not to mention collectors) who would love to get their hands on a fresh Mars sample return. These igneous rocks have probably been hurtling through the solar system for a few million years, so they’re not fresh in terms of their Martian removal. But they’re certainly fresher than the previous Mars samples — the other ones sat on Earth for at least decades, and in some cases millions of years. The meteorites were sheared off Mars after an impact.
Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt, who is selling a large stock of samples, said he has sold dozens of specimens already. Wednesday morning, he bought some more material from a Berber seller in Morocco, he said in an e-mail. More
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Scary Landing Awaits Mars-Bound Rover
An artist's illustration of the landing apparatus of the Mars Science Laboratory. Click to enlarge this image. NASA
THE GIST
Discovery News - With the successful launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on Saturday, NASA can breathe easy — for a few months anyway.
Another cliff-hanger moment will come on Aug. 6, 2012, when the 1,980-pound rover is lowered to the surface of Mars by a rocket-powered sky crane making its debut flight.
“We call it the ‘six-minutes of terror,’” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. “It is pretty scary, but my confidence level is really high.”
PHOTOS: When Discovery News Met Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’
Entering the Martian atmosphere is not for the faint of heart. The envelope of gases surrounding the planet is thick enough to slow down a spacecraft from its interplanetary speed of about 3.5 miles per second, but too thin for safe landing by parachutes alone.
NASA previously used airbags or thruster rockets on its Mars rovers and landers to cushion the impact, but Mars Science Lab, which weighs nearly a ton, needs a beefier system. More
- *Mars Science Laboratory will use a new landing system called a sky crane to touch down on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012.
- For the final mile of its 354 million-mile journey, the rover will fly beneath a rocket-powered platform that will gently lower it on tethers to the floor of a crater.
- The goal of the two-year mission is to determine if Mars could have, or possibly still has, habitats for life.
Discovery News - With the successful launch of the Mars Science Laboratory on Saturday, NASA can breathe easy — for a few months anyway.
Another cliff-hanger moment will come on Aug. 6, 2012, when the 1,980-pound rover is lowered to the surface of Mars by a rocket-powered sky crane making its debut flight.
“We call it the ‘six-minutes of terror,’” said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. “It is pretty scary, but my confidence level is really high.”
PHOTOS: When Discovery News Met Mars Rover ‘Curiosity’
Entering the Martian atmosphere is not for the faint of heart. The envelope of gases surrounding the planet is thick enough to slow down a spacecraft from its interplanetary speed of about 3.5 miles per second, but too thin for safe landing by parachutes alone.
NASA previously used airbags or thruster rockets on its Mars rovers and landers to cushion the impact, but Mars Science Lab, which weighs nearly a ton, needs a beefier system. More
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