Curiosity, a Rover

Curiosity, is the name of the rover made and operated by NASA. It was launched on Nov 26, 2011 from Cape Canaveral LC-41. Atlas V541 (AV-028), was used to launch the rover into earth orbit. It headed towards the Red Planet, a 1-ton robotic beast that took planetary exploration to the next level. Curiosity is a car sized rover designed to explore the carter Gale on the Red planet (Mars) as part of NASA’s Mars Science. The dry mass of rover only is about 899 kg (1,982 lb). Primary mission duration of Curiosity was only about 668 sols (687 days) and currently it has been working for 2352 sols (2416 days) since landing.

The overall mission is referred to as the Mars Science Laboratory or MSL. Previously, of the 39 mission to the Mars, including orbiters and landers, only 15 have been successful.  The rover’s goals include an investigation of the Martian climate and geology, environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including the role of water and planetary habitability studies in preparation for human exploration. Curiosity’s primary mission is to make sure that if Mars is, or was, suitable life. In early 2013, the rover beamed back information showing that Mars had habitable conditions in the past. When Curiosity performed first drill operation, the drill samples obtained included the elements of Sulfur, Nitrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Carbon, which are all considered as “Building blocks” or fundamental elements that could support life.  

Curiosity consists of Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) that comprises instruments to measure the Mars environment including humidity, pressure, temperatures, wind speeds and ultraviolet radiations.  All these sensors are placed around three elements namely: two booms attached to the rover’s mast, the ultraviolet sensor (UVS), provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, assembly located on the rover top deck, and the Instrument Control Unit (ICU) inside the rover body.

Working method of Rover:

Rover consists of highly advance instruments for Martian exploration.

·        On observation, if a particular surface is of interest, then Curiosity can vaporize a small portion of it with an infrared laser and examine the resulting spectra signature to study the rock’s elemental composition,

·        If that signature is fascinating, the rover uses its long arm to swing over a microscope and an X-ray spectrometer to have a closer observation,

·        Once the specimen warrants further analysis, Curiosity can drill into the surface and deliver a powdered sample to the either the SAM or the CheMin analytical laboratories inside the rover for further examination.

Facts about the Rover:

·        The curiosity rover weighs over 900 kilograms,

·        Depending on the condition of terrain on Mars, Curiosity can move at 30 meters per hour,

·        Curiosity has got 17 cameras for 360⁰ observation and 10 other scientific instruments,

·        Instruments like a mobile organic chemistry lab and a infrared laser that can vaporize rocks is included in it,

·        Curiosity is powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator and lithium-ion batteries,

·        Curiosity is 9 feet 10 inches long by 9 feet 1 inch wide and about 7 feet high. Curiosity’s wheels have a 20 inch diameter,

·        The two identical on-board rover computers, called Rover Computer Element (RCE) contain radiation hardened memory to tolerate extreme radiation from the space and to safeguard against power-off cycles,

·        Curiosity us equipped with significant telecommunication redundancy by several means: an X band transmitter and receiver that can communicate directly with Earth, and a UHF Electra-lite software defined radio for communicating with Mars orbiters.

Curiosity telecommunication included a small deep space transponder on the descent stage and a solid state power amplifier on the rover for X band. Signals between Earth and Mars take an average of 14 minutes, 6 seconds. According to the NASA statement released on Feb, 28, the Curiosity rover is back to gathering data on a clay rich region of Mars. The rover has two pairs of black and white navigation cameras mounted on the mast to support ground navigation. These cameras have a 45⁰ angle of view and use visible light to capture stereoscopic 3-D imagery. In total, the Curiosity carries 17 different cameras: HazCams *8, NavCams *4, MastCams *2, MAHLI *1, and ChemCam *1.

Achievements of Curiosity:

·        Just seven weeks after Curiosity touched down the Martian surface, mission scientists announced that the rover had found an ancient streambed where water once flowed roughly knee-deep for thousands of years at a time,

·        By drilling into Martian rocks, the rover discovered what are believed to be the key ingredients for life. The Rover found that ancient Mars likely had the right chemistry to support living microbes,

·        Curiosity detects dangerous level of radiation that exceed NASA’s career limit for astronauts, that helps the space agency’s engineers to build spacecraft and spacesuits that are able to protect humans on deep space missions,

·        Curiosity found different varieties of soil and rock in the Gale Crater.