NASA's Curiosity Rover Celebrates First Year on Mars

[Further]

NASA's Curiosity rover has now been on Mars for over a year. Curiosity landed on Mars on Aug. 5, 2012, 10:32 pm PDT (Aug. 6, 2012, 1:32 a.m. ET).

Engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center are using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument to "sing" Happy Birthday to Curiosity. Take a look:
[video]

NASA says so far Curiosity has provided 190 gigabits of data and returned over 36,700 full images and 35,000 thumbnail images. Curiosity has also driven more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) on the surface of Mars. The image above shows Curiosity's travels. You can see a larger version of the map image here.

Curiosity team members at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will discuss the Curiosity mission in an event that will air on NASA Television and the agency's website from 7:45 to 9 a.m. PDT (10:45 a.m. to noon EDT) on Tuesday, Aug. 6. Immediately following that program, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. (noon to 1:30 p.m.), NASA TV will carry a live public event from NASA Headquarters in Washington. That event will feature NASA officials and crew members aboard the International Space Station as they observe the rover anniversary and discuss how its activities and other robotic projects are helping prepare for a human mission to Mars and an asteroid.

 

[crandc]

Happy birthday.

 

[jlprk]

The MSL is the biggest NASA disappointment in years. All its bragging points are about engineering. No science has been discovered yet.

Holidays are taken. (The Cal Tech humans leave a skeleton crew for days at Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) Despite it being atomic-powered instead of solar, nights aren't used and the 5-6 hours per day are the same schedule as the MERs. But the MERs (Opportunity, etc.) proved ancient water in their first 30 days. MSL has accomplished nothing.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

NASA's Curiosity rover has now been on Mars for over a year. Curiosity landed on Mars on Aug. 5, 2012, 10:32 pm PDT (Aug. 6, 2012, 1:32 a.m. ET).
...
Curiosity has also driven more than one mile (1.6 kilometers) on the surface of Mars. The image above shows Curiosity's travels. You can see a larger version of the map image here.

One mile in a year? What, is Nate McMillan in charge of this project?

 

[BlazerWookee]

What a phenomenal waste of taxpayer dollars.

 

[jlprk]

NASA is one of the few things that government and business do that will make any difference 500 years from now.

 

[crandc]

What a great use of taxpayer dollars. Increasing our knowledge of the universe. There may or may not eventually be commercial value but increasing knowledge is worthwhile in its own right. A waste of taxpayer dollars is trillions spent on wars, billions going to billionaire tax breaks, those are wasting taxpayer dollars. Science is not.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

What a great use of taxpayer dollars. Increasing our knowledge of the universe. There may or may not eventually be commercial value but increasing knowledge is worthwhile in its own right.

Debatable. The old saying, "knowledge is power" is incomplete; in reality, applied knowledge is power; idle knowledge is of no value. If we "increase our knowledge of the universe", but are unable to actually accomplish anything via that increased knowledge, then I would agree with Wook on this one.

 

[Further]

What a great use of taxpayer dollars. Increasing our knowledge of the universe. There may or may not eventually be commercial value but increasing knowledge is worthwhile in its own right. A waste of taxpayer dollars is trillions spent on wars, billions going to billionaire tax breaks, those are wasting taxpayer dollars. Science is not.

crandc, you rock!

 

[Further]

Debatable. The old saying, "knowledge is power" is incomplete; in reality, applied knowledge is power; idle knowledge is of no value. If we "increase our knowledge of the universe", but are unable to actually accomplish anything via that increased knowledge, then I would agree with Wook on this one.

but the truth is we move forward. knowledge in aggregate keeps us moving forward. There will not be a day in the future where we return to horse and buggy. Any single piece of knowledge may be inconsequential, but putting it together is how we improve. And you really can't only learn the most important pieces of information. You need to learn it all, and in the process glean the most relevant pieces and then use that as a jumping off point to gather more info. Without the space programs in the past, it is doubtful our technology would be close to where it is today. From GPS to fire proof materials, this is how we move forward.

 

[crandc]

Agree with GOD. And there is really nothing wrong with seeking knowledge as an end in itself. GOD & I both agree because it's a Mitzvah!

But if you insist, knowledge of why Mars, which apparently was once alive and is now dead, may help us understand how environments change and that could be very useful.

 

[Further]

Agree with GOD. And there is really nothing wrong with seeking knowledge as an end in itself. GOD & I both agree because it's a Mitzvah!

But if you insist, knowledge of why Mars, which apparently was once alive and is now dead, may help us understand how environments change and that could be very useful.

Also, simply taking on these herculean tasks moves us forward. Above, jlprk said "All its bragging points are about engineering. No science has been discovered yet." but even if no big scientific discoveries are made regarding Mars (the mission is far from over and we are only privy to some of the information) just succeeding with the mission from an engineering perspective is a huge deal that will trickle into society in a myriad of ways. Go out seeking knowledge, you may not learn what you hoped to learn, but you always return wiser.

 

[jlprk]

What a great use of taxpayer dollars. Increasing our knowledge of the universe. There may or may not eventually be commercial value but increasing knowledge is worthwhile in its own right. A waste of taxpayer dollars is trillions spent on wars, billions going to billionaire tax breaks, those are wasting taxpayer dollars. Science is not.

Post like that more than once every 5 years, and I'll have to reclassify you from the right to the left. You can't read this anyway, so you don't even know I praised you. Ha ha!

 

[jlprk]

Also, simply taking on these herculean tasks moves us forward. Above, jlprk said "All its bragging points are about engineering. No science has been discovered yet." but even if no big scientific discoveries are made regarding Mars (the mission is far from over and we are only privy to some of the information) just succeeding with the mission from an engineering perspective is a huge deal that will trickle into society in a myriad of ways. Go out seeking knowledge, you may not learn what you hoped to learn, but you always return wiser.

Nope, just showing the same old online video about "7 minutes of terror" for entertainment value, while being lazy about their adventure movie producing science, makes me appreciate the twin MERs all the more. Squyres just pushes harder than Grotzinger. They're the principal scientists for each project.

I spend more time each day keeping up with space news than basketball. This morning I was up at 3 when NASA TV began coverage of the HTV docking. I was up early for every moon landing, too. When John Glenn flew in 1962, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published my 4-verse poem about it.

 

[Eastoff]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies

1 Health and medicine
1.1 Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in medical therapies
1.2 Infrared ear thermometers
1.3 Ventricular assist device
1.4 Artificial limbs
1.5 Invisible braces
1.6 Scratch-resistant lenses
1.7 Space blanket
2 Transportation
2.1 Aircraft anti-icing systems
2.2 Highway safety
2.3 Improved radial tires
2.4 Chemical detection
3 Public safety
3.1 Video enhancing and analysis systems
3.2 Fire-resistant reinforcement
3.3 Firefighting equipment
4 Consumer, home, and recreation
4.1 Temper foam
4.2 Enriched baby food
4.3 Portable cordless vacuums
4.4 Freeze drying
5 Environmental and agricultural resources
5.1 Water purification
5.2 Solar energy
5.3 Pollution remediation
6 Computer technology
6.1 Structural analysis software
6.2 Remotely controlled ovens
6.3 NASA Visualization Explorer
6.4 Space Race Blastoff
7 Industrial productivity
7.1 Powdered lubricants
7.2 Improved mine safety
7.3 Food safety

 

[Further]

Nope, just showing the same old online video about "7 minutes of terror" for entertainment value, while being lazy about their adventure movie producing science, makes me appreciate the twin MERs all the more. Squyres just pushes harder than Grotzinger. They're the principal scientists for each project.

I spend more time each day keeping up with space news than basketball. This morning I was up at 3 when NASA TV began coverage of the HTV docking. I was up early for every moon landing, too. When John Glenn flew in 1962, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin published my 4-verse poem about it.

So you cover the day to day, I'm saying that there are a bunch of advancements that are taking place most likely that we don't see. That 7 minutes of terror was not just a video, but they actually had to design the systems to do that. I was at OMSI the night the landing occurred, they brought in some lecturers and put up a bunch of real time transmissions from NASA. It was fun, I had never done anything like that.

But my point is that you really don't know what Sony or Darpa or Nike are working on that was originally gleaned from engineering this mission.

 

[jlprk]

A year after landing, the news still talks about how the landing worked, rappelling down cables, etc. That's because they have no science to report. Everything takes 30 times as long as MER (Opportunity and Spirit).

Less than 30 days into MER, Squyres and associates held a press conference. Showing slides of 4 lines of evidence, they proved ancient standing water. This, after the discovery of blueberries. They had run themselves ragged on 24 hour schedules with 2 spacecraft on opposite sides of Mars taking up 12 hours each because a Mars day is an Earth day.

MSL (Curiosity) took a month to test each instrument, total about 8 months. They don't drive it any more feet per day than MER, despite all the engineering bragging about how it can drive more hours per day because it doesn't depend upon the Sun. There are raised expectations, but reduced delivery. Meanwhile, they continue filling articles with the engineering instead of what the engineering should have produced by now, science.

 

[Further]

A year after landing, the news still talks about how the landing worked, rappelling down cables, etc. That's because they have no science to report. Everything takes 30 times as long as MER (Opportunity and Spirit).

Less than 30 days into MER, Squyres and associates held a press conference. Showing slides of 4 lines of evidence, they proved ancient standing water. This, after the discovery of blueberries. They had run themselves ragged on 24 hour schedules with 2 spacecraft on opposite sides of Mars taking up 12 hours each because a Mars day is an Earth day.

MSL (Curiosity) took a month to test each instrument, total about 8 months. They don't drive it any more feet per day than MER, despite all the engineering bragging about how it can drive more hours per day because it doesn't depend upon the Sun. There are raised expectations, but reduced delivery. Meanwhile, they continue filling articles with the engineering instead of what the engineering should have produced by now, science.

I just look at it differently, there are some goals of things to find, but the main reason to do this mission is to do this mission. Not to find out if there are bacteria on Mars or is snickers are better than Mars. Sure, they hope to learn these things too, but it's the act of exploration, both the advancements in engineering and courage of humankind that are the real feats here. If we are to one day reach the technological heights of being able to move civilizations past Earth, those first baby steps start here.

 

[Denny Crane]

So you cover the day to day, I'm saying that there are a bunch of advancements that are taking place most likely that we don't see. That 7 minutes of terror was not just a video, but they actually had to design the systems to do that. I was at OMSI the night the landing occurred, they brought in some lecturers and put up a bunch of real time transmissions from NASA. It was fun, I had never done anything like that.

But my point is that you really don't know what Sony or Darpa or Nike are working on that was originally gleaned from engineering this mission.

LOL

The last Mars rover has a 133MHz CPU based on the PowerPC chip that Apple dumped in 2005. Along with that circa 2001 CPU, the rover has 256MB of RAM (my laptop has 16GB), and 2G of flash storage (that you can buy a USB version of at staples for $5).

True, though, the CPU is hardened to deal with the radiation in space and NASA paid $200,000 for it.

If someone gave you a computer like that, you'd use it as a doorstop, donate to charity, or put Windows 3.1 on it for shits and giggles.

I mean, my laptop, which is designed to consume little power and is amazingly light and small, is on the order of at least 64 times more computing power.

I seriously think my iPhone 4 has more computing power.

And for Eastoff, most of the items on the list you posted were driven by the fancy HUD displays and weapons systems on our fighter jets.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

If Rover is so damn curious you'd think he'd be exploring San Francisco instead of Mars.

 

[jlprk]

Alright another day and NOTHING DISCOVERED.

Do I have to GO THERE.

My grandmother always said, if you want something done right, do it yourself.

 

[magnifier661]

Wow we got to see 1 mile in a year?! How much did this program cost?

At this rate, we maybe able to visit the entire planet 4,000 years from now

 

[Denny Crane]

I'm not a fan of govt. spending, in general, but missions to Mars are one of the very few things that govt. will do that the private sector won't (soon enough).

The downside is that govt. is so risk averse that they plan a mission for so many years that the technology actually sent is ancient.

Moving a mile a year is an outstanding achievement, nonetheless.

Gotta love those 720p hidef pictures we're getting. For the money we spend, sending up a 4k ultra hd camera isn't a matter of cost.