The $2.5 billion nuclear-powered robot images curiosity smiled back from the surface of Mars.
One ton of mobile laboratory is already the largest rover sent to Mars, and high speed landing is the most daring so far, using a rocket powered crane to lower the six-wheeled vehicle of light on the Red Planet.”Touchdown confirmed,” said a member of Mission Control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as scientists have embraced it and the room erupted in cheers on Sunday evening. “We have the wheels down on Mars. Oh, my God.”
Some pictures of the Rover car size and sophisticated toolkit designed to hunt down signs that life has existed for NASA back from the landing took place on Sunday at 22:32 U.S. West Coast (0532 GMT Monday). Together, they are dusty, instant black and white shows the shadow of the probe on the surface of Mars and a picture taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed the rover from the start as it was reduced to parachute.
The rover powered nuclear power now scheduled for a two-year mission to explore the red planet, including a long of a mountain rising to analyze the layers of sediment up to a billion years. “The probe is directed northwest-southeast, pointing forward toward Mt sudden,” says project scientist John Grotzinger. “This would not be a better position to go inside.”
However, Grotzinger said it could be a year before the pirates arrived in the mountains in the middle of Gale crater on the planet, and scientists will have a first look more alert on samples of soil and rock within the crater. “We do not just drive rings the dunes as the shortest way to go,” he said. According to NASA chief engineer Michael St. Martin, the rover touched within the planned landing ellipse lasted four to 12 miles (20 kilometers of six) at the foot of the mountain. Additional data in the coming days will give scientists a better idea of exactly where the robot landed.
The initial evaluation of the instruments on board as positive, NASA said. When the landing was announced after a while, seven minutes of descent, entry and landing, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory joy filled the mission team clapped and exchanged Mars chocolate bars. President Barack Obama described the landing as “an act of unprecedented technologies that stand as a point of national pride distant future.” And Charles Bolden, the NASA administrator, applauded all other countries, including France, Canada, Finland, Spain, Russia and Germany – which contributed to the scientific experiments on board the rover of the Mars Science Lab “This is a great day for the country, is a great day for all our partners who have curiosity and is a great day for the American people,” said Bolden. Obama Science Advisor John Holdren described the landing as “a huge step forward in planetary exploration.”
“And if anyone with questions about the state of American leadership in space, there is a bit like a ton of car size that American intelligence sitting on the surface of Mars today,” he added. Success is not correct. NASA Rover new drop-off padded involved small boats with the help of airbags. At the last moment, the craft MSL accelerated the force of gravity closer to the atmosphere of Mars, made a serious entry about 13,200 mph and then slowed with the help of a parachute Super Sonics. A detailed pen sky rocket powered blasters then kicked, and the rover is reduced to the nylon anchor, landing upright on all six wheels.
Adam Steltzner, engineer and leader of the entrance, downhill and landing, the landing admitted previously bid out “fun”, says that, after all, “seemed very clean.” Scientists do not expect the curiosity to find the aliens and creatures to life, but hope to use it to analyze the soil and rock for signs of building blocks of life are present and can be supported in the past life. Project also aims to analyze the Martian atmosphere to prepare for a possible human mission there in the coming years. Obama promised to send people there in 2030.
The spacecraft is collecting data on radiation, while the journey of eight and a half months after the launch in November 2011 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Previous attempts by the space agencies since 1960 have seen a success rate around 40 percent in the delivery of these probes and probes or other spacecraft to Mars.