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[GK86]

Curiosity Rover‏ @MarsCuriosity

Still blinding you with SCIENCE. Check out the top discoveries of my mission's first five years. [url]https://youtu.be/IxvODcuFb1s [/URL]

Article link:

It has been five years since NASA’s Curiosity rover touched down on Mars, lowered to the surface of the planet by a rocket-powered crane in a sequence scientists dubbed the “seven minutes of terror”.

Terror, because of the risk of it all going wrong when you drop a $2.5 billion rover on an alien planet.

And seven minutes, because that is how long it would take the car-sized Curiosity to go from the top of Mars’ atmosphere to the surface.

After approaching the planet at 21,000 kilometres per hour, the heat shield separated and a parachute — then reverse rockets — fired in succession, slowing the craft down until it hovered metres from the ground.

Then using a mothership called the Sky Crane, suspended in the air by rocket thrusters, Curiosity was slowly brought down to the surface using a never-before tested tethered crane system.

Curiosity’s task: determine Mars’ habitability using its 11 different scientific instruments, including three cameras to take detailed images of the landscape, and sensors to analyse rock samples, sniff the atmosphere for organic molecules and detect radiation levels on the planet’s surface.

Travelling at a glacial speed of about 30 metres per hour, Curiosity has ventured 17 kilometres from its landing site in its search.

Some images taken by Curiosity:

Sunset on Mars.

A Solar Eclipse from Mars. Curiosity captured Phobos, one of the two small martian moons passing in front of the Sun in July, 2015.

Distanced traveled

Earth as seen from Mars

And of course, aliens:

Spoiler

/s

 

[titiklabingapat]

The crane-rocket drop was seriously cool. Hope they find the data useful for future missions.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

No /s needed my friend. Thats aliems.

 

[chugen]

they should use a stick and touch that alien crab thing, see what happen

 

[SDCowboy]

I want to know more about that crab looking thing.

 

[Thelonelykoopa]

they should use a stick and touch that alien crab thing, see what happen

And risk destroying such an expensive piece of equipment? Don't worry there will be plenty of alien crabs to poke when we get less valauble human life on the planet.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

they should use a stick and touch that alien crab thing, see what happen

$2,500,000,000 meng. Not worth it.


Its so cool seeing Earth in the sky like that. I've always dreamt of standing on another planet and looking up and seeing Earth. Images like that are as close as I will ever get.

Or watching the sun set on another planet. Fuck I love space. Appreciate the thread mate.


Oh, has the rover ever snapped pics of those lava tubes?

Spoiler

they are actually alien glass tunnels

 

[WillyFive]

I've seen Curiosity up close, it's MASSIVE. They aren't kidding when they say it's as big as a car. It's a marvel of a rover.

 

[cameron]

Wheels taking a beating, PIA21486: Break in Raised Tread on Curiosity Wheel

Two of the raised treads, called grousers, on the left middle wheel of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover broke during the first quarter of 2017, including the one seen partially detached at the top of the wheel in this image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the rover's arm.

This image was taken on March 19, 2017, as part of a set used by rover team members to inspect the condition of the rover's six wheels during the 1,641st Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars.

Holes and tears in the wheels worsened significantly during 2013 as Curiosity was crossing terrain studded with sharp rocks on the route from near its 2012 landing site to the base of Mount Sharp. Team members have used MAHLI systematically since then to watch for when any of the zig-zag shaped grousers begin to break. The last prior set of wheel-inspection images from before Sol 1641 was taken on Jan. 27, 2017, (Sol 1591) and revealed no broken grousers.

Longevity testing with identical aluminum wheels on Earth indicates that when three grousers on a given wheel have broken, that wheel has reached about 60 percent of its useful life. Curiosity has driven well over 60 percent of the amount needed for reaching all the geological layers planned as the mission's science destinations, so the start of seeing broken grousers is not expected to affect the mission's operations.

Recent pic (false colour) from MRO. PIA21710: Curiosity Rover on Mount Sharp, Seen from Mars Orbit

The feature that appears bright blue at the center of this scene is NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp, viewed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Curiosity is approximately 10 feet long and 9 feet wide (3.0 meters by 2.8 meters).

The view is a cutout from observation ESP_050897_1750 taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the orbiter on June 5, 2017. HiRISE has been imaging Curiosity about every three months, to monitor the surrounding features for changes such as dune migration or erosion.

When the image was taken, Curiosity was partway between its investigation of active sand dunes lower on Mount Sharp, and "Vera Rubin Ridge," a destination uphill where the rover team intends to examine outcrops where hematite has been identified from Mars orbit. The rover's surroundings include tan rocks and patches of dark sand. The rover's location that day is shown at https://mars.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/2017/curiositys-traverse-map-through-sol-1717 as the point labeled 1717. Images taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) at that location are at https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1717&camera=MAST_.

As in previous HiRISE color images of Curiosity since the rover was at its landing site, the rover appears bluer than it really is. HiRISE color observations are recorded in a red band, a blue-green band and an infrared band, and displayed in red, green and blue. This helps make differences in Mars surface materials apparent, but does not show natural color as seen by the human eye.

I've seen Curiosity up close, it's MASSIVE. They aren't kidding when they say it's as big as a car. It's a marvel of a rover.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/launch/mslprelaunchfeature.html

 

[Smokey]

5 years already

I remember the hype around the 7 minutes of terror. Amazing what they were able to do.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

I can look at pictures of Mars all day.

 

[KINGofCRA5H]

You have to remind yourself every once in a while that we dropped a fucking giant robot science vehicle on another fucking planet using a fucking sky crane powered by a small rocket hundreds of millions of miles away from us.

Science, man.

 

[Grisby]

Did not know it was that big.

 

[DrForester]

A very sarcastic Opportunity Rover on day 4808 of it's 90 day mission: "Oh wow. FIVE years..."

 

[Morat]

Bloody amazing. Is it true that NASA is running short on RTG sources? This kind of mission seems to justify using nuclear over solar cells.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

5 years already

I remember the hype around the 7 minutes of terror. Amazing what they were able to do.

Seriously.

How is it five years already?

 

[Nokterian]

You have to remind yourself every once in a while that we dropped a fucking giant robot science vehicle on another fucking planet using a fucking sky crane powered by a small rocket hundreds of millions of miles away from us.

Science, man.

And the follow up of curiosity is in the making if not mistaken it will launch in 2020 or earlier? Anyway my name is on that vehicle on mars, since nasa did a program that civilians around the world would be on a chip. Very proud of it that it is there driving around on another planet.

How far we have come with those little robots in the 90's and now nasa landed a car on mars truly amazing.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

What, only the 10 miles in 5 years? Can we get some humans there now so the space sloths stop zooming by us?

 

[GK86]

What, only the 10 miles in 5 years? Can we get some humans there now so the space sloths stop zooming by us?

Put into perspective the distance it has traveled:

There is good reason for this, though. The first is simple logistics: rovers are expensive, difficult to repair and carry a lot of hefty equipment. Racing across the surface of Mars isn't a priority: keeping the rover intact and working is. Every move Curiosity makes is one that NASA pre-planned years in advance.

Curiosity is also not just roaming the surface of Mars. It's doing scientific experiments, too, such as drilling into the planet and searching for signs of water and life. This is painstaking work that takes time, meaning that Curiosity spends a lot of time standing still while it works.

The rover also isn't moving in a straight line. The path is rather wibbly wobbly, because NASA has marked locations on the planet where it wants the rover to go. NASA carefully chose these locations for scientific reasons, so they're important to the research that Curiosity does.

 

[Jon Carter]

You have to remind yourself every once in a while that we dropped a fucking giant robot science vehicle on another fucking planet using a fucking sky crane powered by a small rocket hundreds of millions of miles away from us.

Science, man.

And I can't remove the burnt out lightbulb in my bathroom.

 

[commedieu]

How long does its nuclear battery last? anyone know?

 

[Baroquemantic]

Wow, didn't realize it's been that long.

 

[GK86]

How long does its nuclear battery last? anyone know?

Around 14 years.

 

[Kickz]

Disappointed no bacteria, or Mars roaches were found, ie signs of life.

 

[mdphilli]

Nothing beats the Sky Crane. Happy birthday, Curiosity!

 

[commedieu]

Around 14 years.

Wooah. Check out the big brain on gk86..

Was always...curious..

 

[Smithy C]

Keep on truckin', little robot. Find those aliens.

 

[AuthenticM]

 

[Insane Metal]

Awwww <3

Love Curiosity! I can't wait until it goes up Mt. Sharp and find even more amazing stuff.

I'm also hyped as fuck for Mars 2020 rover!

 

[Clydefrog]

That picture of Earth in the sky... so awesome.

 

[elyetis]

Even 5 years latter I still can't believe they were able to make it land the way they did.

 

[Kayhan]

Good job.

Can it come home now?

 

[SexyFish]

 

[Volimar]

Good job.

Can it come home now?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxVVgBAosqg

 

[GK86]

Curiosity Rover&#8207; @MarsCuriosity

The reports of my singing are greatly exaggerated. I only hummed "Happy Birthday" to myself once, back in 2013. &#55356;&#57218;&#55356;&#57269; https://youtu.be/uxVVgBAosqg

 

[LookAtMeGo]

This thread made me happy at first but now I'm just sad.

 

[captive]

Good job.

Can it come home now?

came for this, almost left disappointed.


also what the fuck is that crab looking thing?

 

[hateradio]

Good job.

Can it come home now?

SAM deserves better. &#128557;

 

[vulva]

5 years and all it's done is take pictures? Maybe it could return if it stopped wasting time playing tourist.

 

[Volimar]

5 years and all it's done is take pictures? Maybe it could return if it stopped wasting time playing tourist.

It probably hasn't even learned the language yet. Entitled little beast.

 

[cameron]

Good job.

Can it come home now?

That's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It died a long time ago. It's frozen. It's dead, Jim.

Caption from May 27, 2011:

This March 31, 2011 image of Mars rover Spirit shows it in it's final resting spot. Sunlight glints off its surface, as it sits stuck in loose sand, trapped for two years now. Over a year ago, its radio stopped functioning, and just last Wednesday, may 25th, NASA engineers sent their final signal to Spirit, hoping for a response, and receiving none. (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

This observation catches the NASA Mars Exploration Rover Spirit gleaming in the sun beside Home Plate inside Gusev Crater. It also catches a dust devil in action.

We were surprised to see that the Spirit rover itself is the brightest spot in the image, unlike dozens of previous images of both rovers. Analysis of the illumination and viewing geometry and the tilt of the rover indicate that, by accident, we imaged it near the specular point for the flat solar panels. The specular point is where the illumination angle is the same as the viewing angle, and the vectors are aligned.

Ground-based measurements prior to launch showed that the specular reflection could be seen even when there is a thin dust cover over the panels. This result does show that the solar panels are not covered by an optically thick layer of dust (i.e., too thick for any light to pass through it). Spirit last communicated on 22 March 2010.

https://www.uahirise.org/ESP_021925_1650

 

[bonesmccoy]

I hope that battery be turned into a bomb, just in case

 

[DrForester]

That's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. It died a long time ago. It's frozen. It's dead, Jim.

It's twin is still moving along, almost a decade after Spirit went down.

 

[GK86]

5 years and all it's done is take pictures? Maybe it could return if it stopped wasting time playing tourist.

Social media culture. Curiosity is only taking photos for the likes.

 

[Alcoremortis]

I went to a landing party for Curiosity (Bill Nye, Seth McFarlane, and Ann Sagan were there) and it was the most exciting thing I've ever done. The party was Skyped in to the Nasa station in Australia and they were giving us live updates on everything they knew the moment they knew it. Everyone went nuts when the first Curiosity selfie was received.

 

[Maxey]

5 years and they still haven't found a single 3 breasted woman?

What a waste...