“Curiosity”: A New Era of Mars Exploration Begins

Friday, July 27, 2012

David Huestis, GoLocal Astronomy Contributor

An artist's rendition of NASA's new rover, Curiosity, which is scheduled to land on Mars on August 6. Image: NASA/JPL.

The next generation of Mars exploration has already begun.

On November 26, 2011, an Atlas V rocket lifted NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory from Cape Canaveral for just over an eight-month journey to Mars. Soon, on August 6, at 1:31 am EDT, a new rover called Curiosity will land in Mars’ Gale Crater to begin another era in exploration of this world.

Curiosity will follow in the “footsteps” of two other famous rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. While their missions were primarily geologic, Curiosity will be searching for evidence of life, both past and hopefully present. Either of these discoveries would most definitely change our perspective about our place in the universe. It would be an event of historic proportions should it come to fruition.

Meet "Curiosity"

Curiosity is a 1,984 pound rover the size of a small SUV. It is 10 feet long, 8.8 feet wide, and stands 7.2 feet tall with its mast. Here’s an image of the vehicle in a clean room being prepped for the mission. (Note the technician for scale.) Curiosity contains a variety of scientific instruments to help with its exploration as it “roves” the Martian terrain under the direction of controllers back here on Earth.

Though the initial mission is scheduled to last almost two years, Spirit and Opportunity survived for eight! So who knows what the future holds in store, especially if a major discovery is made early in the mission.

I’d also like to note that Jim Bell, the lead scientist for Curiosity’s cameras, is a former member of Skyscrapers, Inc., The Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island. Bell was also responsible for the cameras aboard Spirit and Opportunity.

Where to see Curiosity online

There are several websites that provide a wealth of information about this very important mission. Curiosity’s Home Page can be found here.

If you are only interested in the launch, http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=77461&media_id=122049781" target="_blank">access this link.

When the spacecraft reaches Mars it has to land the rover onto the Martian surface. Once the entry into Mars’ atmosphere begins, the descent to landing has been called the “7 Minutes of Terror.” See why in this fantastic animation. And this awesome (yes, I did use the word) animation shows the mission from leaving Earth orbit to the landing on Mars and conducting some experiments.