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NASA today revealed that Mars rover Curiosity will soon make a short stop to examine some more Martian rocks. The rover will examine an area of interest to researchers due to its different intersecting rock textures.

“The orbital images didn’t tell us what those rocks are, but now that Curiosity is getting closer, we’re seeing a preview,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), “The contrasting textures and durabilities of sandstones in this area are fascinating. While superficially similar, the rocks likely formed and evolved quite differently from each other.”

Curiosity is now just 86 meters from the area, which has been named “the Kimberley” after a region of the same name in Australia. The sandstone rocks in the region are different from the mudstone that the rover has so far examined in its journey. The rover’s drill may even be used to collect rock power samples in the area.

Curiosity is currently on a months-long journey to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. There the rover research team hopes to gather data on the different layers of martian rock and soil exposed a the base of the mountain.

Along the way Curiosity has been stopping at planned waypoints on its route to perform extra scientific observations. The stop in the Kimberly is one of these planned diversions, as was a stop back in September 2013 at a location named “Darwin,” where the rover examined sandstone pebbles that may have been formed by flowing water.

More recently the Curiosity team has been with a few technical hurdles encountered during the rover’s research. Shortly before the holiday season the rover experienced an unexpected electrical failure. Just last month the rover surmounted a small hill to reach an area that researchers hoped would save the rover’s wheels from accelerating wear and tear that has been observed in recent weeks.

“The wheel damage rate appears to have leveled off, thanks to a combination of route selection and careful driving,” said Richard Rainen, Curiosity mechanical engineering team leader at JPL. “We’re optimistic that we’re doing OK now, though we know there will be challenging terrain to cross in the future.”

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA this week revealed that Mars rover Curiosity has successfully crossed over a Martian sand dune and is now continuing on its way. The rover drove a total of 41.1 meters on Sunday, February 9. This puts Curiosity’s total distance traveled on Mars just shy of the 5 kilometer milestone at 4.97 kilometers.

Curiosity had crossed over a small, 1 meter high sand dune on February 6. The event was significant for the rover because it puts the vehicle on a flat surface relatively free of sharp rocks for its journey to a site called KMS-9. Once there the rover will drill into selected rocks to obtain powder samples.

The Mars Science Laboratory team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) took a long pause at the end of January to research the area past the dune. Satellite images had shown the area to be flat and clear, but the team took the time to image the landscape with the rover to be safe.

The team is being extra-careful of the surfaces that Curiosity traverses after an inspection of the rover’s wheels in December found that damage to the wheels has accelerated in recent months. Sharp rocks are being avoided, if possible, since they could increase the damage to the wheels.

Curiosity is currently on a months-long journey to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. Along the way the rover is stopping at checkpoints and interesting scientific targets, taking samples that can be compared to those first gathered near the rover’s landing site.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech

Following a few hiccups and a software upgrade during the holiday season, Mars rover Curiosity is now back to doing what it does best.

NASA today revealed that Curiosity is currently on its way to drill another rock sample. The rover is currently stopped at an area named Dingo Gap so that researchers can determine an optimal route over a small Martian sand dune. The agency also revealed that the rover has driven 3.04 miles since landing on Mars.

The Curiosity team is now attempting to find a path that reduces risk to the rover’s wheels from sharp rocks. After having Curiosity take pictures of its own wheels late last year, researchers found that damage to the rover’s wheels has accelerated in recent months. The decision over whether or not to cross the 3 feet-high dune is now being debated with the risk to Curiosity’s wheels in mind.

“The decision hasn’t been made yet, but it is prudent to go check,” said Jim Erickson, project manager for Curiosity at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “We’ll take a peek over the dune into the valley immediately to the west to see whether the terrain looks as good as the analysis of orbital images implies.”

Curiosity is still on a months-long journey to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. There researcher hope to study multiple exposed layers of rock to help determine what Mars may have been like in the past. In the meantime, once over or around the dune Curiosity will attempt to drill a rock at a site named KMS-9.

“This area is appealing because we can see terrain units unlike any that Curiosity has visited so far,” said Katie Stack, a Curiosity science team collaborator at the California Institute of Technology. “One unit has striations all oriented in a similar direction. Another is smooth, without striations. We don’t know yet what they are. The big draw is exploration and seeing new things.”

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

While people on Earth were finishing up their Christmas shopping last week, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity was receiving its own Christmas gift in the form of new software.

According to NASA, Curiosity has now received its third software upgrade since landing on Mars over one year ago. The upgrade took about a week to transition the rover to the 11th version of its flight software, which expands the rover’s more capabilities.

This software upgrade was successful, though the transition was rolled back in November following a failed update. During that upgrade, Curiosity experienced an unexpected reboot into its safe mode. Researchers later determined that the error was caused by file error and soon resumed normal operations while preparing for the December update.

With the rover’s software up to date, Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team members are also preparing to inspect each of Curiosity’s wheels. The rover will take pictures of its own wheels using its arm. Researchers will be looking at the condition of each wheel to help them plan future jaunts across the red planet’s surface while minimizing damage to the wheels.

“We want to take a full inventory of the condition of the wheels,” said Jim Erickson, project manager for the MSL Project at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “Dents and holes were anticipated, but the amount of wear appears to have accelerated in the past month or so. It appears to be correlated with driving over rougher terrain. The wheels can sustain significant damage without impairing the rover’s ability to drive. However, we would like to understand the impact that this terrain type has on the wheels, to help with planning future drives.”

Curiosity is currently on a months-long journey to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. Once there, researchers hope to compare exposed layers of rock to the rock formations seen near the rover’s landing site.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars rover Curiosity has been on Mars now for over one year. In that time the rover has performed a variety of science observations, revealing to scientists even more about the surface of the red planet. Today, NASA announced that data collected by curiosity has led to a host of new findings, including six new papers published this week in Science Express.

The biggest reveal from the research is that Curiosity has helped researchers date a Martian rock. Rocks from Mars have certainly been dated in the past, but never one that was gathered and tested while on the planet itself.

The rock dated was the one in the “Cumberland” region that Curiosity explored earlier this year. The rock was the second that Curiosity had examined using its drill. Using radiometric and exposure age dating from the rover, researchers are estimating that the rock is somewhere between 3.86 billion and 4.56 billion years old.

“The age is not surprising, but what is surprising is that this method worked using measurements performed on Mars,” said Kenneth Farley, author of the paper on the rock dating and a geochemist at the California Institute of Technology. “When you’re confirming a new methodology, you don’t want the first result to be something unexpected. Our understanding of the antiquity of the Martian surface seems to be right.”

In addition to the rock dating, Curiosity has taken the first radiation hazard readings on the Martian surface and detected what might be organic compounds in the Martian soil. The rover has also already completed its primary mission by determining that Mars once had conditions that could have supported some forms of life.

NASA believes that all of these discoveries will help to set the stage for a future manned mission to mars. In particular, Curiosity’s radiation measurements have raised questions over how much exposure to cosmic rays astronauts sent to Mars might have to endure. NASA is currently working towards the goal of sending a manned mission to Mars by the end of the 2030s.

“Our measurements provide crucial information for human missions to Mars,” said Don Hassler, the lead author of a report on Curiosity’s radiation measurements and the science program director at the Southwest Research Institute. “We’re continuing to monitor the radiation environment and seeing the effects of major solar storms on the surface at different times in the solar cycle, will give additional important data. Our measurements also tie into Curiosity’s investigations about habitability. The radiation sources that are concerns for human health also affect microbial survival as well as preservation of organic chemicals.”

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA today officially announced that Mars rover Curiosity has fired its infrared laser more than 102,000 times. The 100,000th blast came back near the end of October, when the rover shot over 300 blasts at a rock named “Ithaca” from a distance of over four meters. Curiosity has now blasted over 420 different Martian targets using its laser.

“Passing 100,000 laser shots is terribly exciting and is providing a remarkable set of chemical data for Mars,” said Horton Newsom, ChemCam co-investigator and a senior research sceintist at the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico.

Researchers use the laser to blast a small spot on Martian rocks, creating an ionized gas that can be analyzed with Curiosity’s Chemistry and Camera instrument to determine the chemical make-up of the sample. According to NASA, the laser is used to blast targets with 30 pulses, which creates a pinhead-sized marking. Each blast lasts for only five one-billionths of a second and delivers more than one million watts.

Curiosity is currently back on-track for a months-long journey to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. There researchers are hoping to compare exposed rock layers to the geology already observed near the rover’s landing site.

The rover’s progress last month was stymied by two separate incidents that cause the rover’s science operations to be temporarily suspended. In early November Curiosity experienced a software glitch that caused an unexpected reboot. Just days after having the issue corrected, the rover experienced a “soft short” that lowered its operating voltage significantly.

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems)

NASA today announced that Mars rover Curiosity resumed its exploration of Mars this weekend. The rover’s exploration had been suspended last week following an unexpected electrical issue.

This is the second time in November that Curiosity has been reactivated following an unexpected technical glitch. The first occurred when the rover unexpectedly booted into safe mode after a software conflict.

This latest malfunction saw Curiosity’s voltage drop significantly, down to 4 volts from the steady 11 it had been operating at since shortly after launch. NASA last week attributed the drop to a soft short in which voltage could be leaking through a partially conductive material. NASA stated today that the likely cause of the voltage drop was an internal short in Curiosity’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

On Saturday, November 23, the rover was found to have returned to its original 11 volt level. Researchers are confident that the drop has not affected the ability of Curiosity to complete its mission, as the rover has a floating bus designed to operate under a range of voltage differences. Having witnessed similar shorts on other machines, however, researchers believe that Curiosity’s voltage could drop again in the future.

After conducting diagnostic tests on curiosity, NASA resumed science operations with the rover this weekend. Its first task was to deliver a powdered rock sample into a testing lab on the rover. The sample had been kept by Curiosity in its arm since drilling a Martian rock six months ago. The rover is currently on a months-long journey to the base of a mountain named Mount Sharp where the rover will investigate the rock layers exposed at that site.

NASA today announced that Mars rover Curiosity‘s planned research has been suspended temporarily. The rover is still functional, but has been put on hold while researchers examine an electricity issue that has been detected.

This news comes just a week after Curiosity resumed operations following an unexpected software glitch in early November.

This new suspension came after NASA researchers detected a voltage change in the rover on Sunday, November 17. Mars Science Laboratory team members measured a change in voltage difference between the rover’s chassis and its power bus. The difference first occurred intermittently before the voltage difference dropped to 4 volts from the 11 volts it has been at during its year on Mars. Researchers will be testing Curiosity’s systems in the coming days to determine the source of the voltage drop.

“The vehicle is safe and stable, fully capable of operating in its present condition, but we are taking the precaution of investigating what may be a soft short,” said Jim Erickson, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

A soft short would mean that voltage is leaking through a material that is only partially conductive. Such a situation would explain the change in voltage, but might also indicate a larger issue with the instrument or system where the short originated. NASA stated that another soft short had occurred for Curiosity shortly after it landed last year, dropping the rover’s working voltage difference between the chassis and the power bus to 11 volts.

This latest short has not harmed the rover and did not even trigger its emergency safe mode. Curiosity is also capable of operating within the new lower voltage, though future shorts could seriously impair the rover’s capabilities.

(Image courtesy NASA)

NASA today announced that Mars rover Curiosity is now out of safe mode and operating normally. The rover had rebooted into safe mode unexpectedly last week while transferring data between the rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Curiosity is expected to resume its exploration functions starting tomorrow, and the rover team has already begun planning for the upcoming days.

From data sent to Earth after the reboot, researchers were able to determine that a software error in a catalog file was the cause of the malfunction. The file error conflicted with new software that had been installed that same day. A fix was pushed out on Sunday, allowing the rover team to begin resuming normal planning operations.

“We returned to normal engineering operations,” said Rajeev Joshi, a Curiosity software and systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We are well into planning the next several days of surface operations and expect to resume our drive to Mount Sharp this week.”

Curiosity is currently on a months-long trek to the base of a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. There, researchers are hoping to the layered rock formations at the mountain to the soil and rocks the rover has already examined closer to its landing site.

Along the way the rover will be stopping at five waypoints to conduct observations and compare the landscapes found along its planned route. At the first of these waypoints, named “Darwin,” Curiosity examined small sandstone pebbles for researchers to better understand how they formed.

Two weeks ago, NASA announced that Mars rover Curiosity had reached the first of five waypoints along its months-long drive to a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. Researchers were hoping to investigate rocks in the area for comparison to those already seen by the rover. Today, NASA announced that their observations were fruitful, as the rocks at the waypoint seem to have been formed by flowing water.

“We examined pebbly sandstone deposited by water flowing over the surface, and veins or fractures in the rock,” said Dawn Sumner, a Curiosity science team member at the University of California at Davis. “We know the veins are younger than the sandstone because they cut through it, but they appear to be filled with grains like the sandstone.”

NASA has nicknamed the waypoint area “Darwin,” and it is located around one-fifth of the way along Curiosity’s current route. It is the first of five planned waypoints on the journey. Curiosity spent around four days examining rocks in the area with the instruments located on its arm. The rover finished its Darwin examination on Sunday and set off once again, traveling a relatively conservative 75 feet toward Mount Sharp.

The new observations back up those the rover found in Yellowknife Bay, where Curiosity spent the first half of 2013. The rover’s mission to determine whether Mars ever had conditions suitable for basic life has already been completed.

“We want to understand the history of water in Gale Crater,” said Sumner. “Did the water flow that deposited the pebbly sandstone at Waypoint 1 occur at about the same time as the water flow at Yellowknife Bay? If the same fluid flow produced the veins here and the veins at Yellowknife Bay, you would expect the veins to have the same composition. We see that the veins are different, so we know the history is complicated. We use these observations to piece together the long-term history.”

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Mars rover Curiosity was sent to Mars with a primary mission to discover if the red planet’s environment was ever suitable for life as we known it. As part of that mission, the rover has been analyzing Martian materials, searching for methane – a hydrocarbon that could be a sign of life. Initial chemical analyses on Mars soil samples failed to find any Methane, and the rover moved on to testing the planet’s atmosphere.

From October 2012 to this summer (on Earth), Curiosity analyzed the Martian atmosphere on six separate occasions. Today, NASA definitively stated that Curiosity’s Tunable Laser Spectrometer has failed to find significant concentrations of methane in the Martian atmosphere. The agency estimates there is less than 1.3 parts per billion of Methane in Mars’ atmosphere. This conflicts with previous research that had found evidence for the compound on Mars, estimating up to 45 parts per billion in the planet’s atmosphere.

“It would have been exciting to find methane, but we have high confidence in our measurements, and the progress in expanding knowledge is what’s really important,” said Chris Webster, lead author of a paper on the findings published today in the journal Science Express. “We measured repeatedly from Martian spring to late summer, but with no detection of methane.”

Methane can sometimes be a by-product of biological processes, which is why high estimates of methane on Mars excited researchers. Curiosity’s findings could be seen as a disappointment, but Mars researchers are trying their best not to be dour.

“This important result will help direct our efforts to examine the possibility of life on Mars,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for Mars exploration at NASA. “It reduces the probability of current methane-producing Martian microbes, but this addresses only one type of microbial metabolism. As we know, there are many types of terrestrial microbes that don’t generate methane.”

(Image courtesy NASA)

For around two months now, Mars rover Curiosity has been on a months-long journey to a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. There, NASA researchers hope the mountain’s multiple exposed layers will shed light on the red planet’s past.

Today, NASA announced that Curiosity has reached the first big milestone of its 5.3-mile drive. The rover has reached a planned waypoint scientists are calling “Panorama Point.” From there, the rover can see exposed bedrock that researchers will be examining for several days.

Panorama Point is the first of five such waypoints planned for Curiosity’s drive to Mount Sharp. The rover drove 464 feet on September 5, nearly reaching its temporary destination. That drive was yet another one-day driving record for the rover. Part of the long drive was navigated by Curiosity itself using its autonomous navigation systems, which were activated only weeks ago.

Curiosity team members are currently evaluating pictures taken by the rover to select various rocks to examine in the coming days. They intend to learn how Martian rocks change between the rover’s first large research site and the base of Mount Sharp.

“We want to know how the rocks at Yellowknife Bay are related to what we’ll see at Mount Sharp,” said John Grotzinger, a Mars Science Laboratory project scientist. “That’s what we intend to get from the waypoints between them. We’ll use them to stitch together a timeline – which layers are older, which are younger.”

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

Not much has been seen about Mars rover Curiosity since the rover’s one-year anniversary (Earth year, that is) was celebrated by NASA early this month. That could be because Curiosity is currently cruising along on a months long journey across the Martian landscape.

The rover is on its way to the base of a mountain named Mount Sharp. There, researchers hope multiple uncovered layers will reveal more about Mars’ past environment. Curiosity is now setting driving records as it continues along its five-mile path to the mountain.

There isn’t much to report, but NASA this week still released an update on Curiosity’s progress. Though the rover only just hit its 1 kilometer milestone, its recent travels (including record driving distances) have now doubled that distance to 2 kilometers (1.25 miles). It also hasn’t fully abandoned its science mission during the road trip, recently analyzing a drilled rock powder sample it had been carrying for 75 days (Martian days).

Curiosity was also recently used to observe Mars moons Phobos and Deimos passing by each other in the Martian night sky. Researchers are hoping the footage can improve data on the moons’ orbits and densities. The full video of the moons passing can be seen below:

(Image courtesy NASA)

On August 6, 2012, Mars rover Curiosity landed on the red planet, in a site called Gale Crater. The event was cause for immediate celebration for those who had worked for years to send the rover to Mars, but researchers soon settled in for the long process of testing the rover and using it to explore the planet.

Curiosity is now coming up on its one-year (one Earth year, anyway) anniversary, and NASA is taking a look back at what was quite an eventful year for the rover. The agency is now touting several statistics and milestones achieved by the rover, such as the 190 gigabits (23.75 gigabytes) of data that Curiosity has sent back from Mars and the 75,000 laser shots it has sent toward 2,000 different science targets to determine their composition. The rover has also sent more than 70,000 images of Mars back to Earth, including photos of its first scoop of Martian soil and the first use of its hammering drill

“Successes of our Curiosity – that dramatic touchdown a year ago and the science findings since then – advance us toward further exploration, including sending humans to an asteroid and Mars,” said Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator. “Wheel tracks now, will lead to boot prints later.”

Bolden was referring to the goal of sending humans to Mars by the 2030s, which President Obama has tasked NASA with achieving.

The Curiosity team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will be holding a live celebration event next Tuesday, August 6. The event will air on NASA Television and live-stream from the NASA website from 7:45 to 9:00 am PDT, with researchers sharing their memories of the rover’s first year on Mars.

Having completed its primary mission goal of determining that Mars’ environment could have one supported life, Curiosity is now on a months-long five-mile journey to Mount Sharp. Mount Sharp is a three-mile high mountain in the middle of Gale Crater. The rover recently passed its one-kilometer-driven milestone and is now setting driving distance records along its journey.

Next week will mark the one-year (Earth year) anniversary of Mars rover Curiosity’s Mars landing. The rover has performed admirably, and all of its instruments have been successfully tested on the surface of the red planet. It has also, in one short year, managed to fulfill its primary mission goal by determining that Mars once had an environment compatible with primitive life.

In celebration of the rover’s milestone, NASA today released a new video showcasing the highlights of Curiosity’s eventful year. The two-minute video runs through 548 pictures taken by the rover’s hazard avoidance camera, situated on the front of the rover.

Curiosity can be seen near the beginning of the video testing its mobility before scooping its first soil sample at around 16 seconds. Other important events in the rover’s first year can be seen throughout the video, such as its first rock drilling. At the end of the video, Curiosity can be seen setting off on its current journey, a months-long, five-mile trip to a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp.

Mars rover Curiosity is currently on a months-long journey to a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp. The rover has shifted into a distance driving mode and is now roving further than ever along its planned five-mile journey.

This week, NASA revealed that Curiosity has broken its own one-day driving record. On July 21 the rover completed a 109.7 yard (100.3 meter) drive – more than double the distance of any drive it had previously completed.

The record drive was planned by rover team members at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), but future jaunts could soon allow Curiosity to use its “autonav” ability to navigate some drives on its own. The software should allow the rover to chart a safe path beyond what rover team members are able to see in the previous day’s photos.

“What enabled us to drive so far on Sol 340 was starting at a high point and also having Mastcam images giving us the size of rocks so we could be sure they were not hazards,” said Paolo Bellutta, a rover planner at JPL. “We could see for quite a distance, but there was an area straight ahead that was not clearly visible, so we had to find a path around that area.”

Curiosity’s one-day driving record before July 21 was 54 yards (49 meters), which was completed back on September 26, 2012, just weeks after the rover landed on Mars. At the outset of its current journey, the rover hit the milestone of having driven over 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) total on the Martian surface. The rover has now driven 0.81 miles (1.23 kilometers) during its time on the red planet.

(Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

It’s been nearly one year since Mars rover Curiosity landed on Mars in August 2012. During that year, the rover has analyzed soil, drilled rock samples to determine whether conditions on Mars could have ever been conducive to life. Now, Curiosity has fulfilled that goal.

NASA has announced that two new studies based on Curiosity’s research have been published in the journal Science. They show that the rover has uncovered evidence that Mars has lost much of its original atmosphere. Though the current Martian atmosphere is too thin for water to remain on the planet’s surface, there is evidence to suggest that water was once abundant on the red planet.

These conclusions are based on soil samples Curiosity analyzed using its Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments. The measurements compared the amount of heavier and lighter isotopes of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in the Martian soil. Heavier isotopes of those elements are found in Mars’ atmosphere today, suggesting to researchers that Mars’ atmosphere was lost near its top, depleting lighter isotopes.

“Getting the same result with two very different techniques increased our confidence that there’s no unknown systematic error underlying the measurements,” said Chris Webster, lead author of one of the studies and the team lead for the SAM tunable laser spectrometer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). “The accuracy in these new measurements improves the basis for understanding the atmosphere’s history.”

Curiosity just passed the milestone of having driven one kilometer on Mars. The rover is currently on a months-long journey to a Martian mountain named Mount Sharp, where researchers hope multiple revealed layers of rock will provide a glimpse of how the surface of the red planet has changed.