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On the afternoon of 4th March 1966, a squadron of jet fighters hovered over Aizawl and dropped bombs leaving a number of houses in flames... -
The Romans knew of seven bright objects in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the five brightest planets. They named them after their most... -
The March 11,2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan may have shorten... -
Saturn is sometimes called the ”Jewel of the Solar System” because its ring system looks like a crown. The rings are well known, but o... -
Confirming what the Beatles always knew, astronomers have actually found a diamond in the sky - directly above Australia. It is t... -
Thanks to an orbiting astronaut, we now know the answer, and it is even stranger than you might expect . Astronauts say the unique smell... -
What happened to SS Ourang Medan or “Man from Medan” in Malaysia is perhaps one of the most fascinating and mind-boggling mysteries that ... -
Saturn floats. As big as the planet Saturn is, if you were to put it in the universe's biggest glass of water, it would float. This i... -
Turkmenistan's aptly named Door to Hell, a 230-foot-wide crater in the middle of the desert near the village of Deweze . In 1971, a... -
A new space suit, as of 2009, costs between 13 and 16 million each, to include maintenance. They do not make a new one for every astrona...
About Me
Popular Posts
-
On the afternoon of 4th March 1966, a squadron of jet fighters hovered over Aizawl and dropped bombs leaving a number of houses in flames...
-
The Romans knew of seven bright objects in the sky: the Sun, the Moon, and the five brightest planets. They named them after their most...
-
The March 11,2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan may have shorten...
-
Saturn is sometimes called the ”Jewel of the Solar System” because its ring system looks like a crown. The rings are well known, but o...
-
Confirming what the Beatles always knew, astronomers have actually found a diamond in the sky - directly above Australia. It is t...
-
Thanks to an orbiting astronaut, we now know the answer, and it is even stranger than you might expect . Astronauts say the unique smell...
-
What happened to SS Ourang Medan or “Man from Medan” in Malaysia is perhaps one of the most fascinating and mind-boggling mysteries that ...
-
Saturn floats. As big as the planet Saturn is, if you were to put it in the universe's biggest glass of water, it would float. This i...
-
Turkmenistan's aptly named Door to Hell, a 230-foot-wide crater in the middle of the desert near the village of Deweze . In 1971, a...
-
A new space suit, as of 2009, costs between 13 and 16 million each, to include maintenance. They do not make a new one for every astrona...
Archive for September 2013
Overview
- Curiosity is just the name of the rover; the overall mission is referred to as the Mars Science Laboratory or MSL
- Of the previous 39 missions to Mars, including orbiters and landers, only 15 have been successful
- All six successful landers have been NASA missions, though a Soviet lander did broadcast for 14 minutes before contact was lost
- The Mars Science Laboratory mission cost $2.5 billion which is about $1 billion over budget
Specifications of the rover
- The Curiosity rover weighs 900 kilograms
- When on Mars it will be able to move at 30 meters per hour depending on the terrain
- Curiosity has 17 cameras and 10 other scientific instruments
- These include a mobile organic chemistry lab and a laser that can vaporise rocks
- The rover is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and lithium-ion batteries
The Mission
- The main mission is expected to last for one Martian year or about 98 weeks
The MSL mission has four scientific goals:
- Determine whether Mars could ever have supported life
- Study the climate of Mars
- Study the geology of Mars
- Plan for a human mission to Mars