[meteorite-list] NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover to Explore Mars (MSL)

From: Pete Pete <rsvp321_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:09:28 -0500
Message-ID: <BAY153-W4378A4E1B6C0DEE259EFA1F8CC0_at_phx.gbl>

MOST excellent!

 

Way-to-go, NASA!

See you in August, Curiosity!



 
 


> From: baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:23:11 -0800
> Subject: [meteorite-list] NASA Launches Most Capable and Robust Rover to Explore Mars (MSL)
>
>
>
> Nov. 26, 2011
>
> Dwayne Brown
> Headquarters, Washington
> 202-358-1726
> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
>
> Guy Webster
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
> 818-354-6278
> guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
>
> RELEASE: 11-397
>
> NASA LAUNCHES MOST CAPABLE AND ROBUST ROVER TO EXPLORE MARS
>
> CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA began a historic voyage to Mars with the
> Nov. 26 launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), which carries a
> car-sized rover named Curiosity. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air
> Force Station aboard an Atlas V rocket occurred at 10:02 a.m. EST.
>
> "We are very excited about sending the world's most advanced
> scientific laboratory to Mars," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
> said. "MSL will tell us critical things we need to know about Mars,
> and while it advances science, we'll be working on the capabilities
> for a human mission to the Red Planet and to other destinations where
> we've never been."
>
> The mission will pioneer precision landing technology and a sky-crane
> touchdown to place Curiosity near the foot of a mountain inside Gale
> Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. During a nearly two-year prime mission after
> landing, the rover will investigate whether the region has ever
> offered conditions favorable for microbial life, including the
> chemical ingredients for life.
>
> "The launch vehicle has given us a great injection into our
> trajectory, and we're on our way to Mars," said MSL Project Manager
> Peter Theisinger of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
> Pasadena, Calif. "The spacecraft is in communication, thermally
> stable and power positive."
>
> The Atlas V initially lofted the spacecraft into Earth orbit and then,
> with a second burst from the vehicle's upper stage, pushed it out of
> Earth orbit into a 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) journey
> to Mars.
>
> "Our first trajectory correction maneuver will be in about two weeks,"
> Theisinger said. "We'll do instrument checkouts in the next several
> weeks and continue with thorough preparations for the landing on Mars
> and operations on the surface."
>
> Curiosity's ambitious science goals are among the mission's many
> differences from earlier Mars rovers. It will use a drill and scoop
> at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of
> rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into
> analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover. Curiosity carries
> 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the
> science-instrument payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and
> Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars,
> such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental
> composition from a distance, and an X-ray diffraction instrument for
> definitive identification of minerals in powdered samples.
>
> To haul and wield its science payload, Curiosity is twice as long and
> five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. Because of its one-ton
> mass, Curiosity is too heavy to employ airbags to cushion its landing
> as previous Mars rovers could. Part of the MSL spacecraft is a
> rocket-powered descent stage that will lower the rover on tethers as
> the rocket engines control the speed of descent.
>
> The mission's landing site offers Curiosity access for driving to
> layers of the mountain inside Gale Crater. Observations from orbit
> have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers,
> indicating a wet history.
>
> Precision landing maneuvers as the spacecraft flies through the
> Martian atmosphere before opening its parachute make Gale a safe
> target for the first time. This innovation shrinks the target area to
> less than one-fourth the size of earlier Mars landing targets.
> Without it, rough terrain at the edges of Curiosity's target would
> make the site unacceptably hazardous.
>
> The innovations for landing a heavier spacecraft with greater
> precision are steps in technology development for human Mars
> missions. In addition, Curiosity carries an instrument for monitoring
> the natural radiation environment on Mars, important information for
> designing human Mars missions that protect astronauts' health.
>
> The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate
> in Washington. The rover was designed, developed and assembled at
> JPL. NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in
> Florida managed the launch. NASA's Space Network provided space
> communication services for the launch vehicle. NASA's Deep Space
> Network will provide spacecraft acquisition and mission
> communication.
>
> For more information about the mission, visit:
>
> http://www.nasa.gov/msl
>
> For more information about the Deep Space Network, visit:
>
> http://deepspace.jpl.nasa.gov/dsn
>
> -end-
>
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Received on Sat 26 Nov 2011 04:09:28 PM PST