CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- NASA has narrowed the target for its most advanced Mars rover,
Curiosity, which will land on the Red Planet in August. The car-sized
rover will arrive closer to its ultimate destination for science
operations, but also closer to the foot of a mountain slope that poses a
landing hazard.
"We're trimming the distance we'll have to drive after landing by almost
half," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "That could get us
to the mountain months earlier."
It was possible to adjust landing plans because of increased confidence
in precision landing technology aboard the Mars Science Laboratory
spacecraft, which is carrying the Curiosity rover. That spacecraft can
aim closer without hitting Mount Sharp at the center of Gale crater.
Rock layers located in the mountain are the prime location for research
with the rover.
Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT Aug. 5
(1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6). Following checkout operations, Curiosity will
begin a two-year study of whether the landing vicinity ever offered an
environment favorable for microbial life.
Theisinger and other mission leaders described the target adjustment
during an update to reporters on Monday, June 11, about preparations for
landing and for operating Curiosity on Mars.
The landing target ellipse had been approximately 12 miles wide and 16
miles long (20 kilometers by 25 kilometers). Continuing analysis of the
new landing system's capabilities has allowed mission planners to shrink
the area to approximately 4 miles wide and 12 miles long (7 kilometers
by 20 kilometers), assuming winds and other atmospheric conditions are
as predicted.
Even with the smaller ellipse, Curiosity will be able to touch down at a
safe distance from steep slopes at the edge of Mount Sharp.
"We have been preparing for years for a successful landing by Curiosity,
and all signs are good," said Dave Lavery, Mars Science Laboratory
program executive at NASA. "However, landing on Mars always carries
risks, so success is not guaranteed. Once on the ground we'll proceed
carefully. We have plenty of time since Curiosity is not as life-limited
as the approximate 90-day missions like NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers
and the Phoenix lander.”
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| Spectators watch the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Atlas V launch of the Mars Curiosity mission from the nearby Space Coast Art Festival in Cocoa Beach Florida on November 26, 2011. Brevard Times / File |
Since the spacecraft was launched in November 2011, engineers
have continued testing and improving its landing software. Mars Science
Laboratory will use an upgraded version of flight software installed on
its computers during the past two weeks. Additional upgrades for Mars
surface operations will be sent to the rover about a week after landing.
Other preparations include upgrades to the rover's software and
understanding effects of debris coming from the drill the rover will use
to collect samples from rocks on Mars. Experiments at JPL indicate that
Teflon from the drill could mix with the powdered samples. Testing will
continue past landing with copies of the drill. The rover will deliver
the samples to onboard instruments that can identify mineral and
chemical ingredients.
"The material from the drill could complicate, but will not prevent
analysis of carbon content in rocks by one of the rover's 10
instruments. There are workarounds,” said John Grotzinger, the mission’s
project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena. "Organic carbon compounds in an environment are one
prerequisite for life. We know meteorites deliver non-biological organic
carbon to Mars, but not whether it persists near the surface. We will
be checking for that and for other chemical and mineral clues about
habitability."
Curiosity will be in good company as it nears landing. Two NASA Mars
orbiters, along with a European Space Agency orbiter, will be in
position to listen to radio transmissions as Mars Science Laboratory
descends through Mars' atmosphere.
A June 2012 revision of the landing target area for Curiosity, the big
rover of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, reduces the area's
size. It also puts the center of the landing area closer to Mount Sharp,
which bears geological layers that are the mission's prime destination.
The larger ellipse in this image, about 12.4 miles (20 kilometers) by 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) shows what the target area was prior to revision. The smaller one, about 12 miles by 4 miles (20 by 7 kilometers), indicates the revised target area.
This oblique view of Mount Sharp is derived from a combination of elevation and imaging data from three Mars orbiters. The view is looking toward the southeast. Gale Crater is 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter. Mount Sharp rises about 3.4 miles (5.5 kilometers) above the floor of Gale Crater.
Stratification on Mount Sharp suggests the mountain is a surviving remnant of an extensive series of deposits that were laid down after a massive impact that excavated Gale Crater more than 3 billion years ago. The layers offer a history book of sequential chapters recording environmental conditions when each stratum was deposited.
Landing will be about 10:31 p.m. on Aug. 5, 2012, Pacific Daylight (early Aug. 6 Universal Time and Eastern Time). During a prime mission lasting nearly two years after landing, Curiosity will use 10 instruments to investigate whether this area of Mars has ever offered conditions favorable for life, including the chemical ingredients for life.
The image combines elevation data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, image data from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and color information from Viking Orbiter imagery. There is no vertical exaggeration in the image.
Image credit Mars Rover: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Image Credit Landing Site: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/MSSS
