Hello All!   
      
   Where Will Curiosity Go First?    
      
   August 17, 2012:  By now it's old news that NASA's new Mars rover Curiosity is   
   resting safely on the surface of Red Planet after a daredevil landing that had   
   the nation holding its breath. Now, mission scientists are anxious to start   
   moving. With such a sweet set of wheels at their disposal and the "open road"   
   before them, just where will they go first?    
      
   "We won't have to travel far for excitement," says project scientist John   
   Grotzinger. "We landed in the best possible place within the landing ellipse   
   -- the bottom of an alluvial fan."    
      
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSHDByiYXvg   
      
   A new ScienceCast video explores the places Curiosity might go. Play it   
   An alluvial fan is a pattern of sedimentary rocks, dirt, and sand deposited by   
   flowing water - in this case, perhaps an ancient Martian river. Since life as   
   we know it requires liquid water, this is an excellent first place to search   
   for clues of a Mars that was once hospitable to life.    
      
   "The alluvial fan indicates that water flowed across the surface, so we'll   
   head downhill to where water might have collected. We'll be looking for   
   minerals like salts that might tell us where water has been. It's kind of like   
   a scavenger hunt with minerals as clues."    
      
   http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/677719main_pia16064b-full_full.jpg   
      
   This image shows destinations scientists want the rover to investigate. First,   
   Curiosity will move toward an area nicknamed Glenelg where three kinds of   
   terrain intersect. The science team thought the name Glenelg was appropriate   
   because, if Curiosity traveled there, it would visit it twice -- both coming   
   and going -- and the word Glenelg is a palindrome. Then, Curiosity will aim   
   for the base of Mt. Sharp where a natural break in the dunes should allow the   
   rover to begin scaling the lower reaches of the mountain. [Larger image] After   
   that, Grotzinger says it's "full-speed ahead" to the base of Mount Sharp, a   
   5000-meter tall mountain that holds within its ancient layers possible clues   
   to life on the Red Planet.    
      
   "We'll have to make a deal with ourselves not to stop too often along the way.   
   Mount Sharp is the reason we chose this landing site, so we need to high-tail   
   it on over there."    
      
   Deputy Program Manager Richard Cook describes the temptation to stop along the   
   way: "It'll be like taking a family vacation, but instead of the family you   
   have 400 scientists who want to stop and look at every sight."    
      
   Curiosity is bristling with instruments custom-made to look for the chemical   
   building blocks of life.    
      
   A laser on Curiosity's mast can take aim at interesting rocks and vaporize   
   small spots on them from up to 7 meters away. The micro-blasts produce plasma   
   clouds, and the scientists can examine the light reflected off these clouds to   
   learn what the rocks are made of. The mast also sports a high-resolution   
   camera called Mastcam, which has already begun observing and photographing the   
   rover's surroundings.    
      
   The rover's robotic arm wields its own array of instruments. The Alpha   
   Particle X-Ray Spectrometer will measure the abundance of chemical elements in   
   the dust, soils, rocks, and samples the rover gathers. The Mars Hand Lens   
   Imager acts like a geologist's magnifying lens that can take its own color   
   photos.    
      
   Ultimately samples will be delivered to a pair of onboard laboratory   
   instruments. One of them, SAM, short for Sample Analysis at Mars, will explore   
   the Red Planet by 'sniffing' the air, bird-dog style. It has vents that open   
   to the atmosphere to detect gases like methane. SAM can also 'sniff' the gases   
   released by rock or soil samples it heats in its own oven.    
      
   Can 400 scientists gripped by the thrill of the greatest 'family vacation'   
   ever really rush to their destination without stopping to savor every sight?    
      
   Grotzinger makes just one guarantee: "In the coming months and years,   
   Curiosity will tell us an incredible story."    
      
      
   Author: Dauna D. Coulter| Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit:   
   Science@NASA   
      
   More Information    
   Curiosity's First Daredevil Stunt -- Science@NASA    
      
   Strange but True: Curiosity's Sky Crane -- Science@NASA    
      
   Opportunity Runs the First Martian Marathon -- Science@NASA    
      
   Mars Landing Sky Show -- Science@NASA    
       
      
   Regards,   
      
   Roger    
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LA - (1:3828/7)