Welcome to my Mars Science Laboratory Blog. \u00a0My name is Dr John Bridges and I am a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester. \u00a0I am also part of the Mars Science Laboratory mission team. \u00a0During the course of MSL I will be keeping a record of what it is like to work on the most ambitious and exciting robotic lander that has ever been attempted. \u00a0Our aim is to test if Mars ever supported conditions which were habitable for microbial life.<\/p>\n
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At the moment I am about to get a flight which will take me to Los Angeles, and from there it is a short journey to Pasadena, home of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. \u00a0That is where we will control MSL (or Curiosity as the rover has been named) for the first 90 martian \u00a0days (sols). \u00a0After that we will mainly work remotely from our home institutions. \u00a0Lots of questions in my mind both scientific and practical (like what will working on Mars time with 24h 37 min days be like for a protracted period of time).<\/p>\n
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Why am I part of this mission? \u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m fascinated about how the Mars we see today formed and in particular what the effects of water on the martian crust were. \u00a0By studying the martian meteorites I\u2019ve seen clays, serpentine, carbonate and salts deposited by water. \u00a0We\u2019ve learnt a lot from that about the temperatures and composition of the fluid. \u00a0In fact there is only one better way to study water on Mars and that is to go there, or rather to send a robot for us. \u00a0That is the way our generation is exploring the Solar System. \u00a0Captain Cook and other explorers discovered new lands on Earth using the advanced technology of their days, I think we follow in the same tradition.<\/p>\n
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However, this mission can\u2019t be about great discoveries everyday. \u00a0For instance, we have to learn how to operate Curiosity and its instruments effectively on the hostile surface of Mars. \u00a0Its late summer in Gale Crater (our landing site) but the temperature wont get much above about 0 degrees C, even at noon. And during the course of the mission it will go down to at least -90 degrees C. \u00a0I will blog about how we use the MSL instruments – like ChemCam which directs laser pulses onto rock surfaces generating spectra from which we can determine mineral compositions.<\/p>\n
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Over the last few weeks I have been working with a group of MSL scientists on a map of the final 18 km landing ellipse. \u00a0I am also practising with the software we will use to operate Curiosity and its instruments. \u00a0Lots of telecons about our final plans.<\/p>\n
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Space exploration is risky, some Mars missions haven\u2019t worked. \u00a0Those of us involved with Beagle 2 (like me), Mars96, 2001 Polar Lander know that. \u00a0But space exploration is a long term process and I think that with every mission and new set of instruments we learn from our successes and failures.<\/p>\n
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Landing is 10.31 pm (Pacific Time) on Sunday 5th August (add 8 hours for the British Summer Time equivalent). \u00a0I\u2019ll be talking more about Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) in a later blog. \u00a0A science team email has just come round telling us that the command \u2018Do_EDL\u2019 has already been sent to the spacecraft, so it feels like Mars is getting close…<\/p>\n
John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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