[meteorite-list] NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Begins Arm-Work Phase

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2012 14:46:12 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201209062146.q86LkCfd000386_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-279

NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Begins Arm-Work Phase
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
September 6, 2012

[Images]
    * Camera on Curiosity's Arm as Seen by Camera on Mast <#1>
    * A Rover's Journey Begins <#2>
    * Relics of Rover's Landing <#3>
    * Dissecting the Scene of Sky Crane Crash <#4>
    * Curiosity's Robotic Arm <#5>
    * Tools at Curiosity's 'Fingertips' <#6>
    * Curiosity's Work Bench <#7>
    * Flexing Curiosity's Arm <#8>

PASADENA, Calif. -- After driving more than a football field's length
since landing, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is spending several days
preparing for full use of the tools on its arm.

Curiosity extended its robotic arm Wednesday in the first of six to10
consecutive days of planned activities to test the 7-foot (2.1-meter)
arm and the tools it manipulates.

"We will be putting the arm through a range of motions and placing it at
important 'teach points' that were established during Earth testing,
such as the positions for putting sample material into the inlet ports
for analytical instruments," said Daniel Limonadi of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., lead systems engineer for
Curiosity's surface sampling and science system. "These activities are
important to get a better understanding for how the arm functions after
the long cruise to Mars and in the different temperature and gravity of
Mars, compared to earlier testing on Earth."

Since the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft placed Curiosity inside
Mars' Gale Crater on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT), the rover has driven a
total of 358 feet (109 meters). The drives have brought it about
one-fourth of the way from the landing site, named Bradbury Landing, to
a location selected as the mission's first major science destination,
Glenelg.

"We knew at some point we were going to need to stop and take a week or
so for these characterization activities," said JPL's Michael Watkins,
Curiosity mission manager. "For these checkouts, we need to turn to a
particular angle in relation to the sun and on flat ground. We could see
before the latest drive that this looked like a perfect spot to start
these activities."

The work at the current location will prepare Curiosity and the team for
using the arm to place two of the science instruments onto rock and soil
targets. In addition, the activities represent the first steps in
preparing to scoop soil, drill into rocks, process collected samples and
deliver samples into analytical instruments.

Checkouts in the next several days will include using the turret's Mars
Hand Lens Imager to observe its calibration target and the
Canadian-built Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer to read what chemical
elements are present in the instrument's calibration target.

"We're still learning how to use the rover. It's such a complex machine
-- the learning curve is steep," said JPL's Joy Crisp, deputy project
scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory Project, which built and
operates Curiosity.

After the arm characterization activities at the current site, Curiosity
will proceed for a few weeks eastward toward Glenelg. The science team
selected that area as likely to offer a good target for Curiosity's
first analysis of powder collected by drilling into a rock.

"We're getting through a big set of characterization activities that
will allow us to give more decision-making authority to the science
team," said Richard Cook, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at JPL.

Curiosity is one month into a two-year prime mission on Mars. It will
use 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected study area
ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
JPL manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington.

More information about Curiosity is online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl <http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl>. You can
follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at:
http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle 818-354-5011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwane.c.brown at nasa.gov

2012-279
Received on Thu 06 Sep 2012 05:46:12 PM PDT