Hello All!   
      
   Curiosity Nears Daring Landing on Mars    
      
   July 16, 2012: NASA's most advanced planetary rover is on a precise course for   
   an early August landing beside a Martian mountain to begin two years of   
   unprecedented scientific detective work. However, getting the Curiosity rover   
   to the surface of Mars will not be easy.   
      
   "The Curiosity landing is the hardest NASA mission ever attempted in the   
   history of robotic planetary exploration," said John Grunsfeld, associate   
   administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in   
   Washington. "While the challenge is great, the team's skill and determination   
   give me high confidence in a successful landing."    
      
   Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (1:31   
   a.m. EDT on Aug. 6).    
      
   http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/   
      
   It's the next best thing to being there. Members of the general public can   
   follow Curiosity across the sands of Mars by immersing themselves in a   
   "Virtual Rover Experience." An Xbox360 video game is also available. Get   
   started   
      
   The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a precursor for future human missions   
   to Mars. President Obama has set a challenge to reach the Red Planet in the   
   2030s.   
      
   To achieve the precision needed for landing safely inside Gale Crater, the   
   spacecraft will fly like a wing in the upper atmosphere instead of dropping   
   like a rock. To land the 1-ton rover, an airbag method used on previous Mars   
   rovers will not work. Mission engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in   
   Pasadena, Calif., designed a "sky crane" method for the final several seconds   
   of the flight. A backpack with retro-rockets controlling descent speed will   
   lower the rover on three nylon cords just before touchdown.    
      
   During a critical period lasting only about seven minutes--also known as "the   
   seven minutes of terror"--the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying   
   Curiosity must decelerate from about 13,200 mph (about 5,900 meters per   
   second) to allow the rover to land on the surface at about 1.7 mph   
   (three-fourths of a meter per second).    
      
   http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=146903741   
      
   A viral video from NASA explains why mission planners called Curiosity's   
   descent "the seven minutes of terror." Play it"Those seven minutes are the   
   most challenging part of this entire mission," said Pete Theisinger, the   
   mission's project manager at JPL. "For the landing to succeed, hundreds of   
   events will need to go right, many with split-second timing and all controlled   
   autonomously by the spacecraft. We've done all we can think of to succeed. We   
   expect to get Curiosity safely onto the ground, but there is no guarantee. The   
   risks are real."   
      
   During the initial weeks after the actual landing, JPL mission controllers   
   will put the rover through a series of checkouts and activities to   
   characterize its performance on Mars, while gradually ramping up scientific   
   investigations. Curiosity then will begin investigating whether an area with a   
   wet history inside Mars' Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favorable   
   for microbial life.   
      
   "Earlier missions have found that ancient Mars had wet environments," said   
   Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Program at NASA Headquarters.   
   "Curiosity takes us the next logical step in understanding the potential for   
   life on Mars."   
      
   Curiosity will use tools on a robotic arm to deliver samples from Martian   
   rocks and soils into laboratory instruments inside the rover that can reveal   
   chemical and mineral composition. A laser instrument will use its beam to   
   induce a spark on a target and read the spark's spectrum of light to identify   
   chemical elements in the target.   
      
   Other instruments on the car-sized rover will examine the surrounding   
   environment from a distance or by direct touch with the arm. The rover will   
   check for the basic chemical ingredients for life and for evidence about   
   energy available for life. It also will assess factors that could be hazardous   
   for life, such as the radiation environment.    
      
   "For its ambitious goals, this mission needs a great landing site and a big   
   payload," said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at   
   NASA Headquarters. "During the descent through the atmosphere, the mission   
   will rely on bold techniques enabling use of a smaller target area and a   
   heavier robot on the ground than were possible for any previous Mars mission.   
   Those techniques also advance us toward human-crew Mars missions, which will   
   need even more precise targeting and heavier landers.    
      
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqeftciRFA   
      
   Curiosity's landing site, Gale crater, photographed from above by NASA's Mars   
   Odyssey orbiter. Within Gale, an impressive layered mountain informally called   
   "Mount Sharp" rises about 5 kilometers above the crater floor. [ScienceCast   
   video]    
      
   "The chosen landing site is beside a mountain informally called Mount Sharp.   
   The mission's prime destination lies on the slope of the mountain. Driving   
   there from the landing site may take many months.    
      
   "Be patient about the drive. It will be well worth the wait and we are apt to   
   find some targets of interest on the way," said John Grotzinger, MSL project   
   scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "When we get   
   to the lower layers in Mount Sharp, we'll read them like chapters in a book   
   about changing environmental conditions when Mars was wetter than it is today."   
      
   In collaboration with Microsoft Corp., a new outreach game was unveiled Monday   
   to give the public a sense of the challenge and adventure of landing in a   
   precise location on the surface. Called "Mars Rover Landing," the game is an   
   immersive experience for the Xbox 360 home entertainment console that allows   
   users to take control of their own spacecraft and face the extreme challenges   
   of landing a rover on Mars.   
      
   Information about many ways to watch and participate in the Curiosity's   
   landing and the mission on the surface of Mars is available at:    
   ttp://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate.    
      
      
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   Mars Science Laboratory is a project of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.   
   The mission is managed by JPL. Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled   
   at JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.    
   Follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at http://www.face   
   ook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.   
      
   For information about the mission, and to use the new video game and other   
   education-related tools, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mars and htt   
   ://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.    
      
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LA - (1:3828/7)