Posted on 01/05/2013 7:36:12 PM PST by BenLurkin
All of Curiosity's instruments have been commissioned. The drill is the only tool that has yet to be deployed.
Its hammer action will enable the device to retrieve powdered samples from up to 5cm inside the rock, which can then passed to the rover's onboard laboratories for analysis.
As Curiosity trundled through Yellowknife Bay in December, it used its survey instruments to try to identify the most promising candidate rock. This equipment comprises the mast-mounted colour cameras and laser spectrometer, and the arm-held "hand lens" camera and X-ray spectrometer.
Continue reading the main story Take a trip to Mars
Explore the Red Planet with Nasa's robot
Yellowknife was chosen as a destination because it represents a different type of rock terrain to the one on which Curiosity landed in August and on which it has done most of its driving. Satellite observations indicate this landscape has a high thermal inertia - that is to say, at night it loses heat more slowly than the terrains that abut it in the local area.
Pictures returned to Earth from inside Yellowknife Bay appear to show copious sedimentary deposits
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
So we can drill on Mars but on in the US.
I see they found one of the interesting fossil looking things in a rock. They’re calling it the flower.
http://www.space.com/19143-mars-flower-curiosity-rover-photos.html
No worries. The EPA will soon stop the project.
Leave it to Barry to screw it up. Every thing he touches fails.
Whatever it is, hard to see how it is “part of the rock”. Anyone have estimated dimensions?
The EPA is probably already freakin’ out because the rover is powered with a plutonium powered generator.
Looks like someone lost a pearl earring........
The wide panoramic picture of the snake like rocks looks like somewhere out in our desert Southwest. I sent the picture along to some of my camping buddies to see if they can remember the area where the picture was taken. Hahahahaha
They call that the reverse Midas touch, or more commonly known as the Obama touch.
“Death Valley?”
That is one area it resembles. Some of the distance small rocks can be mistaken for the low lying and widely scattered desert shrubbery in some of the drier areas. I just find the photo to be very fascinating.
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Extra ping to APoD members.
And another bonus, think of it as a self-ping. I’d lost track of this info about five years ago.
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/jarvis.htm
Arms are ‘way too short, waist length. Must be a Martian.
They should have used this:
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Han-Solo-Frozen-In-Carbonite-Blanket_1.jpg
So it's a laboratory retriever called rover.
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