Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:31 pm

Big Mars Rover Makes First Use of its Brush
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2013 Jan 07

[url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16565.html][b][i]First Use of Curiosity's Dust Removal Tool[/i][/b][/url] - [b][i]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS[/i][/b]
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed first-time use of a brush it carries to sweep dust off rocks.

Nearing the end of a series of first-time uses of the rover's tools, the mission has cleared dust away from a targeted patch on a flat Martian rock using the Dust Removal Tool.

The tool is a motorized, wire-bristle brush designed to prepare selected rock surfaces for enhanced inspection by the rover's science instruments. It is built into the turret at the end of the rover's arm. In particular, the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and the Mars Hand Lens Imager, which share the turret with the brush and the rover's hammering drill, can gain information after dust removal that would not be accessible from a dust-blanketed rock.

Choosing an appropriate target was crucial for the first-time use of the Dust Removal Tool. The chosen target, called "Ekwir_1," is on a rock in the "Yellowknife Bay" area of Mars' Gale Crater. The rover team is also evaluating rocks in that area as potential targets for first use of the rover's hammering drill in coming weeks.

Images of the brushed area on Ekwir are online at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16565 and http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16566 .

"We wanted to be sure we had an optimal target for the first use," said Diana Trujillo of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the mission's activity lead for the Dust Removal Tool. "We need to place the instrument within less than half an inch of the target without putting the hardware at risk. We needed a flat target, one that wasn't rough, one that was covered with dust. The results certainly look good."

Honeybee Robotics, New York, N.Y., built the Dust Removal Tool for Curiosity, as well as tools for two previous Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which included wire brushes plus rock-grinding mechanisms.

Curiosity Tidies Up a Bit on Mars
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2013 Jan 08

Curiosity Scrubs a Mars Rock Clean
Discovery News | Jason Major | 2013 Jan 08

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:27 pm

PIA16566: Close-up of Brushed Area on Martian Rock Target 'Ekwir_1'

This image from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows details of rock texture and color in an area where the rover's Dust Removal Tool (DRT) brushed away dust that was on the rock. This rock target, "Ekwir_1" was brushed and this image was recorded on the same Martian day, or sol, Sol 150 of Curiosity's mission on Mars (Jan. 6, 2013.)

The image, one of the highest resolution images returned so far by MAHLI, was taken from a distance of about 0.4 inch (1 centimeter) from the rock's surface. Fractures, white veins, pits and tiny dark grains in the rock are visible, as well as remaining clumps and specks of dust. The scale bar at lower left is 2 millimeters (0.08 inches).

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Here is a close-up of the Brushed area

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:18 am

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:33 pm

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA16702.jpg
In this image from Curiosity, About 2/3 dist from the left side and 1/3 dist from the top, there is a curious hole in the surface

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:10 pm

BMAONE23 wrote:http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA16702.jpg
In this image from Curiosity, About 2/3 dist from the left side and 1/3 dist from the top, there is a curious hole in the surface

Theres 11 images stiched together. I couldn't find a surface hole anywhere. But just about in the center of the whole thing, theres a rock that gives the impression of a face, until you click on the picture and magnify it.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 11:15 pm

In the top left hand corner, there is a flat sided rock, sunk to its surface in a gravel/dust drift. On the left hand edge as we look there is a slot, as if it has opened up since the drift formed around the rock.
Or, that drift has slumped since it formed, and the mass of the rock held back the gravel/dust around its sides while that below moved away from it.

Is that slot what you meant, BMA?

John

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 6:11 pm

Beyond wrote:
BMAONE23 wrote:http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA16702.jpg
In this image from Curiosity, About 2/3 dist from the left side and 1/3 dist from the top, there is a curious hole in the surface
Theres 11 images stiched together. I couldn't find a surface hole anywhere. But just about in the center of the whole thing, theres a rock that gives the impression of a face, until you click on the picture and magnify it.

Zoom in here in the original full size image

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:35 pm

Hey! BMAONE23, i found your hole. It looks like maybe once upon a time, when there was a flow there, it washed out (maybe an underground pocket?), dryed out and hardened, and just stayed that way, for you to find. Hey! You got a one-holer on mars. Congrats.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Wed Jan 16, 2013 10:47 pm

TWO flipping holes!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:45 am

JohnD wrote:TWO flipping holes!

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Better make that 3-flipping holes, JohnD. There's another hole just below the one you found, that has a raised thin wall of dirt away from a rock face, so you have to stare at it a little to see there's a space between it and the rock. So it's like the other 2-holes, but with a raised edge that tends to hide it. I wonder if NASA will ever do a program on the holeiness of Mars

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:30 pm

looks like the Hole is a potential drilling site
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/n ... 30115.html

: Click to view full size image

saturno2 · Post by **saturno2** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:06 pm

Rover Curiosity possibly found hidrated calcium sulfate ( gypsum ).
This mineral in its formula has 2 molecules of water.
Then maybe have existed water there.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:12 am

Curiosity's Self Portrait at 'John Klein'

This rectangular version of a self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines dozens of exposures taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 177th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Feb. 3, 2013).

The rover is positioned at a patch of flat outcrop called "John Klein," which was selected as the site for the first rock-drilling activities by Curiosity. The self-portrait was acquired to document the drilling site.

The rover's robotic arm is not visible in the mosaic. MAHLI, which took the component images for this mosaic, is mounted on a turret at the end of the arm. Wrist motions and turret rotations on the arm allowed MAHLI to acquire the mosaic's component images. The arm was positioned out of the shot in the images or portions of images used in the mosaic.

Image Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

: [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16726][b][i]Curiosity's First Sample Drilling[/i][/b][/url] [i]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/MAHLI[/i]

: [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16717][b][i]Preparatory Test for First Rock Drilling by Mars Rover Curiosity[/i][/b][/url] [i]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/MAHLI[/i]

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 9:31 pm

Day 193 yields another interesting rock shape found in Gale Crater.

In the upper left corner of this image is a rock that strongly resembles a Snail Shell
LARGEST SIZE

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:35 pm

: [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia16729.html][b][i]First Curiosity Drilling Sample in the Scoop[/i][/b][/url] [b][i]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS[/i][/b]

: [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16766][b][i]Check-up Image After Delivering Martian Rock Powder[/i][/b][/url] [b][i]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS[/i][/b]

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:38 pm

Curiosity Rover Has Computer Problems
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2013 Mar 01

A problem with the memory on the Curiosity rover’s main computer has caused engineers to switch the rover over to a redundant onboard computer. This caused the rover to go into “safe mode,” which was anticipated in the computer switch. And so now over the next few days, the team will be shifting the rover from safe mode to operational status. They are also troubleshooting the condition that affected operations yesterday. ...

Computer Swap on Curiosity Rover
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2013 Feb 28

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 5:22 am

Curiosity Rover's Recovery on Track
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2013 Mar 04

[i]This self-portrait of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines 66 exposures taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 177th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (2013 Feb 03). [b](Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)[/b][/i]
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has transitioned from precautionary "safe mode" to active status on the path of recovery from a memory glitch last week. Resumption of full operations is anticipated by next week.

Controllers switched the rover to a redundant onboard computer, the rover's "B-side" computer, on Feb. 28 when the "A-side" computer that the rover had been using demonstrated symptoms of a corrupted memory location. The intentional side swap put the rover, as anticipated, into minimal-activity safe mode.

Curiosity exited safe mode on Saturday and resumed using its high-gain antenna on Sunday.

"We are making good progress in the recovery," said Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager Richard Cook, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "One path of progress is evaluating the A-side with intent to recover it as a backup. Also, we need to go through a series of steps with the B-side, such as informing the computer about the state of the rover -- the position of the arm, the position of the mast, that kind of information."

The cause for the A-side's memory symptoms observed last week remains to be determined.

Very brief Curiosity update, sol 205:
Memory anomaly and a swap to the "B-side"
Planetary Society | Emily Lakdawalla | 2013 Mar 04

Curiosity Rover Recovering From Computer Glitch
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2013 Mar 05

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:07 pm

Cosmic ray strike?

Meteorite strike??? It's open season on Earth right now!

John

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:23 pm

Curiosity Demonstrates New Capability to Scan 360 Degrees for Life Giving Water – and is Widespread
Universe Today | Ken Kremer | 2013 Mar 18

The science team guiding NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) rover have demonstrated a new capability that significantly enhances the robots capability to scan her surroundings for signs of life giving water – from a distance. And the rover appears to have found that evidence for water at the Gale Crater landing site is also more widespread than prior indications.

The powerful Mastcam cameras peering from the rovers head can now also be used as a mineral-detecting and hydration-detecting tool to search 360 degrees around every spot she explores for the ingredients required for habitability and precursors to life.

Researchers announced the new findings today (March 18) at a news briefing at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas.

“Some iron-bearing rocks and minerals can be detected and mapped using the Mastcam’s near-infrared filters,” says Prof. Jim Bell, Mastcam co-investigator of Arizona State University, Tempe.

Bell explained that scientists used the filter wheels on the Mastcam cameras to run an experiment by taking measurements in different wavelength’s on a rock target called ‘Knorr’ in the Yellowknife Bay area were Curiosity is now exploring. The rover recently drilled into the John Klein outcrop of mudstone that is crisscrossed with bright veins.

Researchers found that near-infrared wavelengths on Mastcam can be used as a new analytical technique to detect the presence of some but not all types of hydrated minerals.

“Mastcam has some capability to search for hydrated minerals,” said Melissa Rice of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

“The first use of the Mastcam 34 mm camera to find water was at the rock target called “Knorr.”

“With Mastcam, we see elevated hydration signals in the narrow veins that cut many of the rocks in this area. These bright veins contain hydrated minerals that are different from the clay minerals in the surrounding rock matrix.”

Mastcam thus serves as an early detective for water without having to drive up to every spot of interest, saving precious time and effort. ...

Curiosity Mars Rover Sees Trend in Water Presence
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2013 Mar 18

saturno2 · Post by **saturno2** » Sat May 11, 2013 10:45 pm

What is the work of Curiosity Rover now?

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Mon May 13, 2013 6:58 am

For the last month, it has been sitting still while its zapped primary memory was transferred to secondary, back-up memory, re-configured and new software sent and installed. Bit like a product recall on your car, although you're grateful that it's all been done for you under guarantee, it doesn't fill you with confidence for future reliability. Fingers crossed.
JOhn

BMAONE23 · Post by **BMAONE23** » Wed May 15, 2013 4:23 pm

Also Mars has passed behind the sun blocking radio transmissions for about the same period of time

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed May 15, 2013 4:38 pm

saturno2 wrote:What is the work of Curiosity Rover now?

Curiosity Selects Second Drilling Target on Mars
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL | 2013 May 09

Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory: What's New?

BMAONE23 wrote:Also Mars has passed behind the sun blocking radio transmissions for about the same period of time

Sun in the Way Will Affect Mars Missions in April
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL | 2013 Apr 20

Curiosity Resumes Science Investigations
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL | 2013 Apr 25

JohnD wrote:For the last month, it has been sitting still while its zapped primary memory was transferred to secondary, back-up memory, re-configured and new software sent and installed. Bit like a product recall on your car, although you're grateful that it's all been done for you under guarantee, it doesn't fill you with confidence for future reliability. Fingers crossed.

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » Wed May 15, 2013 6:42 pm

bystander,
your post reads as if Curiosity's problem was a 24 hour affair.
In fact it was weeks long:

Space.com, 26/3/13 http://www.space.com/20391-mars-rover-c ... ience.html
"Curiosity had been operating pretty much flawlessly on the Red Planet until late February, when a memory glitch corrupted its main, or A-side, computer. Engineers swapped the rover over to its backup (B-side) computer, spurring Curiosity to go into a precautionary "safe mode" on Feb. 28. [Curiosity Rover's Latest Amazing Mars Photos]
As the team worked to fix the A-side, engineers also spent time checking out the B-side and configuring it for surface operations, as the A-side had been running Curiosity since a few weeks before the rover touched down on Mars the night of Aug. 5.
The rover's 10 science instruments can all be operated by either the A-side or the B-side computer, but other gear is not so flexible. For example, each of Curiosity's 12 engineering cameras is linked only to the main or the backup computer, researchers said.
"This was the first use of the B-side engineering cameras since April 2012, on the way to Mars," JPL's Justin Maki, team lead for these cameras, said in a statement. "Now we've used them on Mars for the first time, and they've all checked out OK."
Bringing the rover back up to speed has been delayed a few times by other events as well. In early March, engineers briefly put Curiosity on standby again to wait out a Mars-bound solar eruption. And on March 16, a separate software issue sent Curiosity into safe mode for a few days.
But all appears to be going well now. The B-side is running fine, NASA officials say, and the A-side is available as a backup if needed."

It IS all going well now. Foresight and excellence have enabled that.
But I still have my fingers crossed for no more problems to fix under guarantee, and I bet NASA do too!
John

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed May 15, 2013 7:02 pm

JohnD wrote:bystander,
your post reads as if Curiosity's problem was a 24 hour affair.

Sorry, didn't mean it to seem that way. The first article made the same points you did.
I went back and added all the articles in the timeline that refer to the computer swap.

Starship Asterisk*

Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Curiosity: First Use of Dust Removal Tool

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Curiosity Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Curiosity Eats Mars Rock Powder

Curiosity Rover Has Computer Problems

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Curiosity Demonstrates New Capability

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory

Re: Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory