Curiosity's New Home

These are the first two full-resolution images of the Martian surface from the Navigation cameras on NASA's Curiosity rover, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. 

The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle shows low-relief scarps and plains. The foreground shows two distinct zones of excavation likely carved out by blasts from the rover's descent stage thrusters.

Photo and text from here - http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4342

Scene of a Martian Landing

The four main pieces of hardware that arrived on Mars with NASA's Curiosity rover were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image about 24 hours after landing. The large, reduced-scale image points out the strewn hardware: the heat shield was the first piece to hit the ground, followed by the back shell attached to the parachute, then the rover itself touched down, and finally, after cables were cut, the sky crane flew away to the northwest and crashed. Relatively dark areas in all four spots are from disturbances of the bright dust on Mars, revealing the darker material below the surface dust.

Around the rover, this disturbance was from the sky crane thrusters, and forms a bilaterally symmetrical pattern. The darkened radial jets from the sky crane are downrange from the point of oblique impact, much like the oblique impacts of asteroids. In fact, they make an arrow pointing to Curiosity.

The Curiosity rover is approximately 4,900 feet (1,500 meters) away from the heat shield; about 2,020 feet (615 meters) away from the parachute and back shell; and approximately 2,100 feet (650 meters) away from the discoloration consistent with the impact of the sky crane.

Text and Photo from http://go.nasa.gov/OXjKz6

First Color Image from Mars by Curiosity

This view of the landscape to the north of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the afternoon of the first day after landing. (The team calls this day Sol 1, which is the first Martian day of operations; Sol 1 began on Aug. 6, 2012.)

In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The image is murky because the MAHLI’s removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover’s terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks.

Mars Robot Size Comparison

Take a look at this size comparison of the robots sent to Mars...It explains why Spirit, Opportunity and Sojourner could use the bouncing balloon (airbag) landing and Curiosity used the sky-crane landing. Curiosity's EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing) also allowed for much greater accuracy in hitting a particular landing site.

Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) mockup (right) compared with the Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit/Opportunity) (left) and Sojourner Rover (center) by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Wheel size comparison: Sojourner, Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit/Opportunity), Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity).

Curiosity

Why is the Mars Curiosity Rover so interesting to me? Because it is the most sophisticated robotic planetary explorer ever built or conceived. Everything about it is hard to do. It also bears a name that means so much to me.

See the quote from Walt Disney to the right (and below)...It is kind of the theme of my blog and something that I think captures the whole idea of why we should try new things and always be learning...It was featured in Disney's animated film Meet the Robinsons.

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

A Toast to JPL Curiosity Mission Control

JPL mission controllers broke out jars of peanuts shortly before Curiosity's landing. It’s a tradition before critical mission events that started with the first successful Ranger mission to the moon in the 1960s. A JPL staffer was eating peanuts at the time, so the staff figured the peanuts brought good luck! 

Looks like they worked again... Photo Credit: NASA-TV

Curiosity Has Landed - JPL Video

This is a combination of video and simulation pieced together to show the moment that Curiosity landed on Mars.