Some of the early results from Curiosity are being presented this week at the American Geophysical Union. That is a large yearly meeting in San Francisco where thousands of scientists meet to share new discoveries. Preparing our results for presentations and publications will over time be an increasingly important part of the MSL science team’s […]
Mars Science Laboratory Blog
Thursday 29th November Sol 112
Our next major task is to select a suitable place for the first drilling operation using high resolution MastCam images that we have been taking. Curiosity has a drill in the central part of the robotic arm and two spare drill bits on the lower front of the rover. Drilling about 5 cm deep allows us […]
Sunday Nov 25th Sol 108
It is now almost exactly a year since launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida on the 26th Nov. 2011. The rocket was an Atlas 541 (5 m diameter fairing, 4 solid fuel boosters, 1 main rocket with a liquid oxygen fuel engine). I remember the tremendous noise and vibration even from our viewing point a few km away from […]
Tuesday 20th Nov. Sol 104
We have moved from Rocknest where our analyses of soil, rocks and atmosphere are complete. We have a lot of data to examine. The rover planners plan our way over the terrain to our next science targets. The exact route is determined using the combination of left and right navigation cameras which together provide stereo […]
Monday 19th Nov. Sol 103
The REMS instruments (Rover Environmental Monitoring Station) on the rover mast has been sending back information about wind direction and atmospheric pressure over the last 100 sols. There is a predominant E-W wind direction around our landing site. Knowing wind direction and getting more detailed knowledge about pressure variations (highest in the afternoon, lowest in […]
Wednesday 14th Nov 2012 Sol 98
With its APXS (Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer) instrument on the robotic arm of Curiosity is measuring the composition of rocks and soil at Rocknest. The beam of alpha particles and X-rays causes fluorescence of X-rays characteristic of particular elements in the sample. But Curiosity is not the first rover to use this instrument on Mars. […]
12th Nov 2012 Sol 96
The science team rotates roles and I am Mineralogy Science Theme Lead for the next few sols. We will consider science priorities, the availability of time to do science experiments, the positioning of instruments and what samples we could reach, together with the power budget. Currently Curiosity is doing a range of experiments with the Gas […]
Sunday 4th Nov 2012 Sol 88
Research into trace gases in the Mars atmosphere, for instance ground based studies of the martian atmosphere, have suggested that tens of parts per billion of the molecules might be methane. In addition it has been suggested that there might be seasonality in the distribution of methane. This is exciting and extraordinary, because one (but by no […]
Thursday 1st Nov 2012 Sol 85
Later today I catch my flight back to the UK and swap Mars time for GMT. Looking back on the first part of this mission, I think we have learnt and achieved a lot. My highlight so far is coming in to jpl and seeing the first clear images of the alluvial fan rocks. We […]
Tuesday 30th October Sol 83
We have started the transition to going back to planning on Earth rather than Mars time. By the end of 90 sols this will be complete. We are meeting tonight to mark the end of the Mars time part of the MSL mission. As people start to disperse back to their home institutions the team […]
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