Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Mars Curiosity Rover info


Like many of you, I am excited about the Curiosity rover is preping for launch. But Id did get my wires crossed on the landing site. I thought it was landing "near" Gale, but according to a post in the Daily Galaxy:
  • Curiosity, NASA's car-sized rover, also known as the Mars Science Lab, is scheduled for launch in late November or early December 2011 from the Kennedy Space Center. After an eight-month voyage to Mars, Curiosity will land at the foot of a 3 mile high mountain in a crater named "Gale."
Not close but IN Gale. Now yes, it is a 90 mile wide crater, but that is a small target to hit, this far away. Plus it has a 15 thousand foot mountain in the middle of the damn thing! Check the pic out! The yellow circle is where Curiosity is going to land. Why there, inside a crater? Well as the article states:
  • "This may be one of the thickest exposed sections of layered sedimentary rocks in the solar system. The rock record preserved in those layers holds stories that are billions of years old stories about whether, when, and for how long Mars might have been habitable."
Overall, pretty cool data. Check out the complete article here

No comments: