Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Welcome to Mars! Curiosity Rover Lands Successfully!

“Touchdown confirmed. We’re safe on Mars!” announced mission control from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory after the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover landed safely on the Red Planet. After blazing through Mars’ atmosphere at over 21,000 km/h, Curiosity’s unique landing system worked perfectly through the challenging entry, descent, and landing, allowing the rover to touch down and take pictures shortly after. Above are the first two images from Curiosity’s view of Mars’ Gale Crater. The image on the left shows Curiosity’s shadow on Mars.

Pandemonium erupted in JPL’s mission control, across Twitter and other social media outlets as the touchdown was confirmed. With the landing, the Curiosity rover successfully made its eight-month voyage across 560 million-kilometer (352 million miles) to reach Mars, landing on Mars’ surface using a supersonic parachute and a jet-powered sky-crane. Curiosity now begins an ambitious two-year mission to search for signs of past or even present habitability on Mars.


NASA will be posting more of the first images taken by Curiosity at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/ (Currently the website is being over-run with visitors and may load very slowly).

After years of planning, setbacks, and ups and downs for the Mars Science Laboratory, the teams of scientists and engineers were able to celebrate with shouts, tears, and lots of hugs following the confirmation of the landing. At about 05:32 UTC on Aug. 6 (10:32 p.m. PDT Aug. 5) Curiosity became the largest robotic rover ever to touch down on another planet.

“It’s just absolutely incredible, and it’s a huge day for the American people,” said NASA administrator Charles Bolden on NASA TV. “Everybody in the morning should be sticking their chest out and saying that’s my rover on Mars because it belongs to everyone.”

During its planned two-year prime mission, Curiosity will explore Gale Crater by roving, drilling, collecting samples, taking oodles of pictures and shooting its laser at rocks to determine the chemical make-up of this enticing region on Mars. In particular, the probe will search for organic carbon that might indicate fossilized life forms. It will also be “sniffing” the air on Mars, trying to smell if gasses like methane — which could be a sign of life — are present.

“Congratulations and long live American Curiosity!” said John Holdren, the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology, speaking at a post-landing press conference. “The Seven Minutes of Terror has turned into the Seven Minutes of Triumph. My immense joy in the success of this mission is matched only by overwhelming pride I feel for the women and men of the mission’s team.”

JPL Director Charles Elachi quoted Teddy Roosevelt: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat,” he said, “and tonight, we have experienced victory.”

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science 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 elemental composition of rocks from a distance. The rover 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.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater’s interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.

“That great things take many people working together to make them happen is one of the fantastic things of human existence,” said Adam Steltzner, who led the Entry Descent and Landing team. “There is a new picture of a new place on Mars. That is, for me, the big payoff.”

“There are many who say that NASA has lost its way,” said John Grunsfeld, the head of NASA’s Science Directorate. “I think its fair to say that NASA knows how to explore, we’ve been exploring, and tonight we can say, again, we are on Mars. The Curiosity story is just beginning.”

If you missed the excitement or want to relive it again, here’s our Virtual Landing Party, a 3+ hour Google+ Hangout on Air:

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Super Bowl of Planetary Exploration – Great Convergence of Spacecraft for Curiosity Mars Landing

Image caption: This artist’s still shows how NASA’s Curiosity rover will communicate with Earth during landing. As the rover descends to the surface of Mars, it will send out two different types of data: basic radio-frequency tones that go directly to Earth (pink dashes) and more complex UHF radio data (blue circles) that require relaying by orbiters. NASA’s Odyssey orbiter will pick up the UHF signal and relay it immediately back to Earth, while NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will record the UHF data and play it back to Earth at a later time. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity is just hours away from ‘do or die’ time and the high stakes and harrowing “7 Minutes of Terror” after an 8 month journey to touchdown on the Red Planet and potentially make historic discoveries that could ultimately answer the question ‘Are We Alone?’

An armada of spacecraft are converging at Mars for the historic landing of NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab rover, the most daring, daunting and complex robotic mission that NASA has ever attempted. See the Video below

“Tonight is the Super Bowl of Planetary Exploration,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, at a NASA JPL news briefing on Sunday (Aug. 5). “One yard line, one play left. We score and win, or we don’t score and we don’t win.”

“We are about to land a rover that is 10 times heavier and with 15 times the payload [compared to earlier rovers]. No matter what happens, I just want the team to know I am incredible proud and privileged to have worked with these guys and gals.”

“This is the most challenging landing we have ever attempted.”

“Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) are in good shape to relay the entry, descent and landing data.”

The trajectory to the atmospheric aim point is so precise that engineers decided to cancel the last course correction maneuver firing planned for today.

Tonight at around 1 AM EDT, Curiosity smashes into the Martian atmosphere at over 13,200 MPH (5,900 m/s) leading to an unprecedented entry, descent and landing sequence culminating in the never before tried “skycrane maneuver” and touchdown at 0 MPH just 7 minutes later astride a 3 mile (5 km ) mountain inside Gale Crater. Mount Sharp represents perhaps millions to perhaps billions of years of Mars geologic history stretching from the ancient wetter time to the more recent desiccated era.

“The team and the spacecraft are ready,” said Adam Steltzner, MSL Entry, Descent and Landing Lead engineer JPL. “We did everything possible to deserve success tonight, although as we all know we can never guarantee success. I am rationally confident and emotionally terrified and ready for EDL.”

Video Caption:This artist’s animation shows how orbiters over Mars will monitor the landing of NASA’s Curiosity rover.The animation starts with the path of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft capsule — which has the Curiosity rover tucked inside — speeding towards its Martian landing site in Gale Crater. Then, the paths of NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter become visible. Curiosity will be sending some basic radio-frequency tones straight back to Earth during its entry, descent and landing, on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). But sending more detailed engineering data about the landing is more complicated. Those kinds of data will be sent by Curiosity to the orbiters Odyssey and MRO, which will then relay them back to NASA’s Deep Space Network antennas on Earth. Curiosity can only send the data to Odyssey and MRO when it can see the orbiters — as soon as they rise above and before they set below the Martian horizon. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The 6 wheeled SUV sized rover Curiosity is scheduled to touchdown inside Gale Crater at about 1:31 a.m. EDT (531 GMT) early on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5).

Under the best circumstance, the first signals from the surface could be transmitted via Odyssey within a few minutes of touchdown.

Curiosity is a robotic geologist and a roving chemistry lab with 10 state-of-the-art science instruments that will collect and analyze soil and rock samples and zap rocks from a distance with a laser to search for carbon in the form of organic molecules – the building blocks of life.

“We will attempt to have the MRO HiRISE camera point at MSL and get an image of it the final phases of its descent going down to Mars,” said McCuistion. “This will be difficult because of all the gyrations by the spacecraft. It’s pretty challenging. It will be very tough. We were lucky to get one of Phoenix. I am hopeful”

“We have the opportunity for untold discoveries. We couldn’t even imagine going to this place on Mars a few years ago.”

“If we are successful, it will be one of the greatest feats in exploration ever!”

Watch NASA TV online for live coverage of the Curiosity landing on Aug. 5/6 starting at 11:30 pm EDT:

www.mars.jpl.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov

Ken Kremer

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Curiosity’s Target Martian Destination

Where will the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover land? This annotated image of Mars by Efrain Morales shows where on Mars Curiosity will set down, if all goes well, at about 05:31 UTC on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5, 1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6). (Use this handy time conversion chart to find the ETA in your time zone.) The landing site is 4.6 degrees south latitude, 137.4 degrees east longitude, near base of Aeolis Mons, also known as Mount Sharp, a layered mountain that rises 4.8 kilometers (3 miles), inside Gale Crater.

Thanks to Efrain for sharing his image. Check out more of his work at the Jaicoa Observatory website.

Posted on by Ken Kremer

When are the First Pictures Expected from Curiosity

Image Caption: This graphic shows the locations of the cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover’s mast features seven cameras: the Remote Micro Imager, part of the Chemistry and Camera suite; four black-and-white Navigation Cameras (two on the left and two on the right) and two color Mast Cameras (Mastcams). Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

If all goes well with the high stakes descent, the first images from the 1 ton Curiosity rover on the Martian surface could be received in the first few minutes after touchdown inside Gale Crater beside a huge mountain with layered sediments – now less than a day away.

It all depends on whether Curiosity successfully establishes a communications link with NASA’s Mars Odyssey signal relay spacecraft as the resilient orbiter simultaneously flies over the landing site and transmits the vital data indicating “Yes I’m Alive” to tracking stations back on Earth for analysis by anxiously waiting engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif.

“We are expecting Odyssey to relay good news,” said Steve Sell of the JPL engineering team that developed and tested the mission’s complicated and never before used “sky crane” landing system. “That moment has been more than eight years in the making.”

The initial pictures would be reduced-resolution fisheye black-and-white images from the Hazard-Avoidance cameras (Hazcams), attached to the front and rear body of the rover.

“On the first night we expect the first low resolution black-and -white images from the rear hazcam, thumbnails about 50 x 50 pixels” said JPL’s Richard Cook, deputy project manager for Curiosity at today’s (Aug. 4) news briefing for reporters at JPL. “The Mars Odyssey relay will continue for 2 to 5 minutes after landing. Later that first night we hope to get a 512 x 512 pixel image looking out the rear of the rover.”

The hazcam cameras are covered with protective clear dust covers so the initial pictures might be taken through the covers if they haven’t popped off yet, Cook explained.

“The next chance to receive data and pictures comes 2 hours later post-landing during the second Odyssey over flight,” he added. “The next opportunity after that comes about 12 hours later.”

Initial thumbnail images from the rovers Mars Descent Imager (MARDI) camera,located on the belly of the rover, during the descent to the Red Planet’s surface are expected a day later on Aug. 7. These images will help pinpoint Curiosity’s exact location.

The team expects to deploy the rover’s mast with the higher resolution cameras on Aug. 7. Curiosity would then begin acquiring a 360 degree stereo panorama with the Navcam cameras the next day on Aug. 8.

The first color images are expected around Aug 8 from the Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, one of five devices on the rover’s Inspector Gadget-like robotic arm. MAHLI will still be in the stowed position when it snaps the initial pictures.

But the whole plan depends on a successful landing and engineering checkout and instrument deployments along with no significant technical problems.

Navigators guiding NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) are threading the needle in these final 24 hours as she accelerates towards a miniscule target box barely 2 miles by 7 miles (2.8 by 11.5 kilometers) wide.

“We’re now right on target to fly through the eye of a needle, that is, our target at the top of the Mars atmosphere,” said MSL mission manager Arthur Amador, JPL, at the briefing. “The target is a box that’s 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) by 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) in dimension. And we’re flying right through it.”

Image Caption: Eye of the Needle – This graphic shows how navigators steering NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory capsule — with the Curosity rover tucked inside — are aiming for a pinpoint location above Mars. They liken it to threading the eye of a needle. Navigators are aiming for a point inside of a target box that is 1.7 by 7.15 miles (2.8 by 11.5 kilometers) wide above the Red Planet. Mars’ gravity well, which has been precisely calculated, will pull the spacecraft into the Martian atmosphere. The plane in which MSL has been traveling toward Mars — labeled trajectory plane — hits what is known as the B-plane at a 90 degree angle. The B plane is the plane perpendicular to the velocity of the spacecraft when it is far away from Mars. It is used for maneuver targeting. The northward direction of Mars’ pole is also indicated. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

As of Saturday evening, Aug 4, MSL has cut its distance from Mars in half in the past day. MSL is the same distance from Mars as the Earth is from the Moon, around 250,000 miles (400,000 km) and closing at more than 8000 MPH (about 3,600 meters per second).

“Right now, I’m closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth,” Curiosity just tweeted.

After the nail biting entry, descent and landing (EDL) , the 6 wheeled rover Curiosity is scheduled to touchdown inside Gale Crater at about 1:31 a.m. EDT (531 GMT) early on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5).

The 10 feet (3 meters) long mini Cooper sized Curiosity is loaded with 10 state-of-the-art science experiments that will search for organic molecules – the building blocks of life. She is the most sophisticated robot ever sent to the surface of another world. Curiosity will investigate the Red Planet like never before and look for signs of Martian microbial life and habitable zones by analyzing soil and rock samples with high powered analytical chemistry instruments.


Image Caption: This global map of Mars was acquired on Aug. 2, 2012, by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

And even the weather is cooperating.

“The active dust storm we saw south of Gale crater has now evolved into a harmless dust cloud. Basically, the poofed remnants of what was that dust storm. Mars is cooperating by providing good weather for landing,” said JPL’s Ashwin Vasavada, deputy project scientist for Curiosity.

“The team has done everything possible to make it a success. It is scary and risky. I am proud of the team,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters at the JPL briefing. “Risk exists.”

“The human spirit is driven by these kind of challenges. These challenges force us to explore our surroundings and understand what’s out there. And look at “Are we Alone?”

Watch NASA TV online for live coverage of the Curiosity landing on Aug. 5/6 starting at 11:30 pm EDT:

www.mars.jpl.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov

Ken Kremer


Image Caption: Curiosity Landing site at Gale Crater from ESA Mars Express Orbiter. Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Read continuing features about Curiosity by Ken Kremer starting here:

Curiosity Precisely on Course at T Minus 48 Hours till a ‘Priceless Asset’ Lands on Mars

3 Days to Red Planet Touchdown – Watch the Harrowing Video of Car-Sized Curiosity Careening to Crater Floor

4 Days to Mars: Curiosity activates Entry, Descent and Landing Timeline – EDL Infographic

Curiosity’s Grand Entrance with Star Trek’s William Shatner and Wil Wheaton – Video Duet

Curiosity Completes Crucial Course Correction – 1 Week from Mars !

T Minus 9 Days – Mars Orbiters Now in Place to Relay Critical Curiosity Landing Signals

Posted on by Ken Kremer

Curiosity Precisely on Course at T Minus 48 Hours till a ‘Priceless Asset’ Lands on Mars

At this moment the mega rover Curiosity is barely 48 hours from Mars and transformation into a “priceless asset” on the Red Planet’s surface where she’ll initiate the search for evidence for habitats of Martian microbial life – past or present.

NASA JPL engineers have guided the Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) so precisely on her 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) interplanetary journey through space that they decided to cancel today’s planned course adjusting thruster firing, known as Trajectory Correction Maneuver 5 (TCM-5). If needed, they have one last chance for a course correction burn (TCM-6) this weekend on Sunday.

“We are now about 1000 yards from the entry target that will bring us to the touchdown point on the North side of Gale Crater,” said Tomas Martin-Mur, MSL Navigation team chief of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., at an Aug. 2 MSL news briefing.

Curiosity is now less than 450,000 miles away from Mars, careening through space at over 8000 MPH (3576 m/s) and accelerating moment by moment due to the ever increasing pull of Mars gravity.

To put that in perspective, that’s less than twice the distance from the Earth to the Moon.

By the time Curiosity hits the Martian atmosphere on Sunday night/Monday early morning (Aug 5/6) she’ll be blazing through space at more than 13,200 MPH (5,900 m/s).

“I’m less than 500,000 miles from Mars & the Red Planet looks about the size as a full moon seen from Earth. 2 days to landing!” Curiosity tweeted a short while ago.

She remains healthy, with all systems operating nominally. And she is brave!

Curiosity will not flinch knowing she must endure the “7 Minutes of Terror” and the fiery entry,descent and landing to touchdown inside the 96 mile wide Gale Crater just 2 days from now.

Watch the harrowing landing animation – here.


Image Caption: Gale Crater Landing site for Curiosity. Credit: NASA

Absolutely staggering photos and science discoveries are expected from Curiosity – the boldest, most daring and by far the most scientifically complex and capable robotic emissary ever dispatched by humans to another world.

But after landing, the team needs to first test the rover’s components and unfurl the robots camera mast and instruments.

“We must recognize that on Sunday night at 10:32 PM PST(1:32 AM EST, 532 GMT) we will have a ‘priceless asset’ that we placed on the surface of another planet that could last for a long time IF we operate it correctly,” said Pete Theisinger, MSL project manager, JPL, at the Aug. 2 news briefing.

“So we will be cautious as hell about what we do with it !”

“This is a very complicated beast, so we all need to exercise caution. It’s much, much more complicated than Spirit and Opportunity in terms of the interactions amongst the various pieces and the things we need to keep track of in order to operate it successfully.”

A few hours after touchdown, Curiosity will send back the first images from the Gale crater landing site beside a towering 3 mile (5 km) high layered Martian mountain, named Mount Sharp.

“We will start doing science right away. Very roughly, the contact science will begin in 2 to 4 weeks. Sampling science will begin 1 to 2 months after we land,” explained Theisinger.

The car-sized Curiosity is 10 feet (3 meters) long and packed with 10 state-of-the-art science experiments that will search for organic molecules – the building blocks of life – and clay minerals, potential markers for signs of Martian microbial life and habitable zones.


Image Caption:Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory Rover – inside the Cleanroom at KSC, with robotic arm extended prior to encapsulation and Nov. 26, 2011 liftoff. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Watch NASA TV online for live coverage of the Curiosity landing on Aug 5/6 starting at 11:30 pm EDT:

www.mars.jpl.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov

Ken Kremer


Image Caption: MSL entry track to Gale Crater. Credit: NASA

Read continuing recent features about Curiosity by Ken Kremer starting here:

3 Days to Red Planet Touchdown – Watch the Harrowing Video of Car-Sized Curiosity Careening to Crater Floor

4 Days to Mars: Curiosity activates Entry, Descent and Landing Timeline – EDL Infographic

Curiosity’s Grand Entrance with Star Trek’s William Shatner and Wil Wheaton – Video Duet

Curiosity Completes Crucial Course Correction – 1 Week from Mars !

T Minus 9 Days – Mars Orbiters Now in Place to Relay Critical Curiosity Landing Signals

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Incredible View of Curiosity Rover’s Landing Site

Here’s an intriguing look at Gale Crater, the landing spot for the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover. This image was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the Mars Express spacecraft and it is color-coded based on variations in terrain. The lower elevation, shown in purple is the target landing area, but scientists and engineers want to get the rover as close as they can to the big mountain, Mount Sharp — which rises 5.5 km above the crater floor — where all the interesting geologic features are.

Orbiting spacecraft have already identified minerals and clays there that suggest water may have once filled the area, and as Curiosity slowly makes its ascent of the mountain region, it will analyze samples of these materials with its onboard laboratory in search of the building blocks of life.

The crater itself is 154 km wide, and Curiosity is aiming for a target landing ellipse that is 20 x 7 km. Initially, the rover had a target landing ellipse of 20 X 25 km, but by combining elevation data from the HRSC on Mars Express, image data from the Context Camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery, the target ellipse was adjusted to a smaller area.

Mars Express will be an integral part of Curiosity’s landing, providing tracking and communication data for the spacecraft.

The highlight of ESA’s support for NASA’s Curiosity landing happens at 06:29 on Monday, 6 August, when the Mars Express Lander Communication (MELACOM) system is switched on.

Recording of the radio signals transmitted by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is planned to begin at 07:09 and end at 07:37 (all times shown as ground event time in CEST).

ESA’s ground tracking station in New Norcia, Australia, will also listen and record signals from the NASA mission at the same time.

At 08:15, Mars Express will contact Earth via ESA’s 35 m deep space station at New Norcia, and begin transmitting the recorded information, which should take about 11 minutes to download; signals will take nearly 14 minutes to cover the 248 million km distance to Earth.

The transfer will be complete by about 08:26; the data will be transferred in real time to ESOC, and made immediately available to NASA’s MSL mission team at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California.

Here’s a graph from ESA of the timeline:

source: ESA

Posted on by Ken Kremer

3 Days to Red Planet Touchdown – Watch the Harrowing Video of Car-Sized Curiosity Careening to Crater Floor


Video Caption: This 11-minute animation depicts key events of how NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission will land the huge rover Curiosity on Mars on August 5/6, 2012. Credit: NASA

Well, here we are 3 days from the thrilling ‘touchdown’ of Curiosity on Mars on the boldest mission yet by humans to the Red Planet – Seeking Signs of Life beyond Earth!

The Curiosity Mars Science Lab rover is by far the hardest and most complex robotic mission that NASA has ever attempted. She marks a quantum leap beyond anything tried before in terms of the technology required to land this 2000 pound beast and the science she’ll carry out for a minimum 2 year prime mission.

So watch this harrowing video (above) – Outlining how Curiosity slams into the Martian atmosphere at 13200 MPH and comes to rest at 0 MPH after surviving the “7 Minutes of Terror” with an unprecedented guided entry, rocket powered descent, neck snapping supersonic parachute deployment and never before used Sky Crane maneuver – and be sure you’re safely seated !

The car-sized Curiosity has entered the final 72 hours of careening towards a crater floor on Mars.

After the nail biting entry, descent and landing (EDL), the 6 wheeled rover Curiosity is scheduled to touchdown inside Gale Crater at about 1:31 a.m. EDT (531 GMT) early on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5).

“It looks a little crazy !” said Adam Steltzner, MSL Entry, Descent and Landing Lead engineer JPL , at today’s (Aug. 2) pre-landing briefing for reporters at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. “But it’s the least crazy compared to other methods we evaluated.”

“Everything looks good for Sunday night. Over 300 Years of human individual contributions went into the MSL EDL system. We pull 10 Earth G’s or more of acceleration during first contact with the Martian atmosphere.”

See the detailed EDL graphic below –
Image caption: Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) Timeline – click to enlarge for full image. Credit: NASA

Curiosity is the first mobile soil and rock sampling and chemistry lab dispatched to Mars. It’s also the first astrobiology mission to Mars since the twin Viking missions of the 1970’s.

“We are about to land a small compact car on Mars with a trunk load of instruments. It’s an amazing feat, exciting and daring. It’s fantastic,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters at the JPL briefing.

“It’s an extreme pleasure to be here. MSL has a huge reach, to the past, the future and around the world. Since the heatshield is nearly the size of the Orion heat shield, we’ll also learn an enormous amount about how we’ll land humans on Mars.”

“MSL is a workhorse for the future,” McCuistion emphasized.

Curiosity will search for the ingredients of life in the form of organic molecules – the carbon based molecules which are the building blocks of life as we know it. The one-ton behemoth is packed to the gills with 10 state-of-the-art science instruments including a 7 foot long robotic arm, scoop, drill and laser rock zapper.

Watch NASA TV online for live coverage of the Curiosity landing on Aug 5/6:
mars.jpl.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov

Ken Kremer

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

HiRISE Camera to Attempt Imaging Curiosity’s Descent to Mars

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Phoenix hanging from its parachute as it descended to the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

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Note: This article was updated on Aug. 3 with additional information.

The HiRISE camera crew on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will attempt an audacious repeat performance of the image above, where the team was able to capture an amazing shot of the Phoenix lander descending on a parachute to land on Mars’ north polar region. Only this time it will try to focus on the Mars Science Laboratory’s Curiosity rover descending to touch down in Gale Crater. It will be all or nothing for the HiRISE team, as they get only one shot at taking what would likely be one of the most memorable images of the entire mission for MRO.

“We’re only making one attempt on MSL here,” Christian Schaller of the HiRISE team told Universe Today. “The EDL (Entry, Descent and Landing) image is set up so that as MSL is descending, MRO will be slewing the HiRISE field of view across the expected descent path. The plan is to capture MSL during the parachute phase of descent.”

Schaller is the software developer responsible for the primary planning tools the MRO and HiRISE targeting specialists and science team members use to plan their images.

Last December, when Universe Today learned of this probable imaging attempt, HiRISE Principal Investigator Alfred McEwen confirmed for us that, indeed, the team was working to make it happen. The preferred shot would be to “capture the rover hanging from the skycrane, but the timing may be difficult,” McEwen said.

It would take an impeccable – and fortuitous – sense of timing to get that shot, but since MSL’s EDL won’t happen on a precisely exact timetable, the HiRISE team will take their one shot and see what happens.

“We’ve been gradually updating the exact timing of the sequence over the past couple of weeks as the MSL navigation team, the MRO navigation team and the MRO flight engineering team refines that descent path and MRO slew,” Schaller said via email, “and we think we’ve pretty much got it nailed down at this point. I think it’s a real testament to NASA and its partners that we can even think about doing this.”

HiRISE will actually be taking two images, but the first is a “throwaway” warmup image taken about 50 minutes prior to MSL’s descent, designed to heat the camera’s electronics up to the preferred temperature for getting good image data.

“The warmup image we’re taking is a long-exposure throwaway that we’re taking on the night side of Mars,” Schaller explained. “It’s a 5,000 microsecond per line exposure, compared to a more typical 100 microsecond per line exposure during normal surface imaging. These warmup data will be useless, and we don’t even bother sending them back to Earth; we just dump them from the MRO filesystem once the exposure is complete.”

Schaller said the warmup image starts executing at 04:17 UTC/9:17 PM PDT. The real image starts executing at 05:09 UTC/10:09 PM PDT, centered on 10:16 PM as the time MSL and MRO navigation teams have determined MSL will pass through HiRISE’s field of view.

This image will be an approximately 500 microseconds per line exposure, to match the MRO’s slew rate.


Caption: Artist impression of MRO orbiting Mars. Credit: NASA

UPDATE (Aug. 3): In checking with McEwen, he said that Mars Express and Odyssey are NOT planning to image the descent, but they are supporting EDL via UHF relay, and the plans to use CTX has been dropped.

“HiRISE plans are to definitely attempt the image, unless there is a late upset to the MRO spacecraft,” McEwen said via email on August 3. “The engineers estimate we have a 60% chance of capturing MSL in our image.”

MRO’s Context Camera (CTX) will also be attempting to image Curiosity’s descent, as will NASA’s Mars Odyssey and ESA’s Mars Express and all the spacecraft have been performing special maneuvers to be aligned in just the right place – nearby to MSL’s point of entry into Mars’ atmosphere.

While Odyssey and Mars Express’ cameras may not have the resolving power to capture MSL itself, the powerful HiRISE camera does. However, it has a narrower field of view, so as much skill and planning as this requires, the team will need a little luck, too. But there’s also the CTX.

“CTX has a much larger field of view and will likely capture it,” McEwen said, “but at 20X lower resolution than HiRISE, which should still be good enough to detect the parachute.”

For those concerned about the fuel required for all these orbiters to reposition themselves just to take a few pictures, the expenditure is nothing that isn’t required anyway. All the spacecraft need to be in position to support MSL during the critical EDL event, and the images are pure extra-benefit, if not an incredible exercise for the imaging teams.

So while we’ll all be crossing our fingers for a successful landing for Curiosity, I’m on my way to find a rabbit’s foot or 4-leaf clover for HiRISE.

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Reminiscent of Apollo, Australian Facilities Will Receive First Signals of Curiosity Rover Landing

The movie “The Dish” tells the wonderful story of how Australian radio communication dishes saved the day as Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, allowing the world to watch in wonder. While the movie isn’t entirely accurate, Australia does have a marvelous history of providing tracking and communication with spacecraft on historic missions. The tradition continues with the upcoming landing of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover when it sets down on Mars on August 5/6 after a nail-biting entry, descent and landing.

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) will be the main tracking station for the landing activities. Its 70-m and two 34-m antennas will receive signals from the spacecraft both directly and then relayed through another NASA spacecraft, Mars Odyssey, in orbit around the Red Planet.

The 64-m Parkes telescope – the one featured in “The Dish” — will record signals directly from the spacecraft as a backup in case there is a problem with the relaying. But as the spacecraft descends, it will drop below the Martian horizon (and out of direct sight of Earth-based antennas) about two minutes before touchdown, and Parkes will cease receiving its signals.

A third, smaller, antenna managed by the European Space Agency (ESA) at New Norcia near Perth in WA will provide extra redundancy. It will receive signals from the spacecraft recorded and re-sent through ESA’s Mars Express satellite, which is in orbit around Mars.

Signals from the Canberra station will be sent directly to mission scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. Data from Parkes and New Norcia will be sent later for analysis.

While the landing is not controlled from Earth, as the lag-time in radio signals (13.8 minutes one way) makes any input from Earth impossible, tracking the spacecraft as it approaches Mars is very important.

Astrophoto: Tracking Curiosity by Glen James Nagle
Tracking Curiosity. Image Credit: Glen James Nagle

“We are looking forward to receiving and sending that touchdown signal from MSL, so we can help end those ‘7 minutes of terror’ for the amazing scientists and engineers waiting at JPL,” said Glen Nagle, Education and Public Outreach Officer at Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, via email. Nagle took this panoramic image, above, early in December 2011 in Canberra while the dishes were getting their first data from MSL after its launch, so the facility has been an integral part of guiding the spacecraft during its entire journey to Mars.

The last opportunity to send the spacecraft any commands will be two hours before it enters the atmosphere. “After that, it’s on its own,” said Nagle.

NASA engineers also want to know exactly where the spacecraft enters the atmosphere so they can locate the rover when it lands, and of course, the hopeful rover fans back on Earth will want to find out as soon as possible to know if the landing succeeded or not.

The spacecraft will slam into the atmosphere at 20,000 km per hour. Over the next seven minutes the craft and then its payload must be slowed to essentially zero.

The landing has several stages: cruise, deployment of the entry capsule and then the parachute, separation of the heat shield, and finally the operation of the “skycrane” that will lower the 900-kg rover, Curiosity, onto the Martian surface.

As each stage is successfully completed the spacecraft will send a unique tone indicating that it has occurred.

During the landing, the mission scientists can only watch and wait. They call this time the “seven minutes of terror”.

The exact landing time for the spacecraft is determined by several factors, including descent time on the parachute, Martian winds, and any variation how the spacecraft flies under power before the landing. Confirmation of a touchdown signal could be received on Earth at 05:31 UTC on Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 and 1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6, 3.31 pm AEST Aug. 6) plus or minus a minute.

Winds could mean that descent time on the parachute is longer, but at this time of year on Mars the weather is very stable and is not expected to cause any problems.

If the final set of tones is not heard, Mars Odyssey will listen for them again when it orbits over the landing site 1.5 hours later.

“The expertise of Australian personnel in space communications and CSIRO’s partnership with NASA will be showcased during this critical event in the Mars Science Laboratory’s mission,” says Chief of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Dr. Phil Diamond. “All of our technology and our people are ready.”

And so are all the rover fans back on Earth!

Read more about what it has taken to navigate MSL all the way to Mars at our previous article, “How Will MSL Navigate to Mars? Very Precisely.”

And here’s another previous article about how we *really* watched the footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing, thanks to the Australian radio dishes.

Lead image caption: The 70-m antenna at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. (Credit: CDSCC)

source: CSIRO

Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Comedian Stephen Colbert Talks with NASA’s John Grunsfeld About Curiosity Rover Landing


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NASA Chief Scientist John Grunsfeld took Stephen Colbert’s “Colbert Report” audience on a guided tour through the seven minutes of terror that the Curiosity rover will endure to land on Mars, and the two also discussed the possibility of life on Mars. Grunsfeld also shocked Colbert for a moment when he said the Curiosity rover won’t discover a thing … but then continued to say it will be the scientists who make the discoveries, and Grunsfeld predicted it will be an amazing 2 years for the MSL scientists during Curiosity’s prime mission.
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