APOD: A Wheel on Mars (2012 Aug 07)

[APOD Robot]

A Wheel on Mars

Explanation: A wheel attached to NASA's Curiosity rover is firmly on the martian surface in this early picture from the Mars Science Laboratory mission, captured after a successful landing on August 5, 2012 at 10:32pm (PDT). Seen at the lower right of a Hazard Avoidance Camera fisheye wide-angle image, the rover's left rear wheel is 50 centimeters (about 20 inches) in diameter. Part of a spring hinge for the camera's dust cover is just visible in the right corner, while at the upper left is part of the rover's RTG power source. Looking into the Sun across the rock stewn surface of Mars, distant hills on the right are the rim of Gale Crater, about 20 kilometers from the compact car-sized rover's current resting place. Larger color images are expected later in the week when the rover's mast, carrying high-resolution cameras, is deployed.

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[bystander]

PIA15982: Curiosity's Rear View, Annotated
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Mars Science Laboratory

[neufer]

Curiosity: Notes from the two day-after-landing press briefings
Posted By Emily Lakdawalla, 2012/08/06

<<Before landing, the science team (406 of them!) were presented with the opportunity to choose whether to have the rear or forward facing hazcam image come down first. The engineers assumed the scientists would want the front haz view, which would be less obstructed by hardware. The scientists said, no way, that first image is not about science; it's about seeing wheels on the dirt. So show us an image that contains more hardware.>>

[Boomer12k]

"Git yer motor runnin'....head out on the highway...lookin' for adventure..."


:---[===] *

[Mactavish]

Yankee ingenuity scores another big one! Spirit and Opportunity will be a tough act to follow, but Curiosity’s landing got it off to a great start.

[Ann]

This landing was very well done, indeed. Congratulations to everyone involved!

Now I'm waiting for Curiosity to get to work. There is so much on Mars to explore and examine.

Ann

[biddie67]

Yahoo!! Here's to some great adventures and fantastic finds!!

[Redbone]

Great job on a very difficult, expensive and risky mission to land such a large piece of harware on Mars, I didn't think NASA could do it. This just might be the 'big one', to discover life on another planet.

[eltodesukane]

I remember Viking landing on Mars almost 40 years ago. It was awesome, so is this.
It is the same thing all over again, for a new generation, with much better hardware, thanks to improved technology. And it can move! (How we wish Viking could have moved just a bit, just to peek behind those rocks, or to scoop soil a bit further.). Let Curiosity be driven by our own curiosity. Let`s roll.

[Psnarf]

Lessee, shoot a 4-ton 9-ft high x 14-ft diameter over 350 million miles, then drop a one-ton semi-autonomous nuclear-powered ATV on target in working condition 13.8 light-minutes away? No problem.
--
Obquote: "Of course; of course. A child could do it. A child could do it." -McCoy,"Spock's Brain"

Disclaimer: WOW!!!

[nstahl]

Outstanding progress for our space program and a great, gutsy job by our scientists and engineers. And a very promising source for future APODs .

[flash]

Lessee, shoot a 4-ton 9-ft high x 14-ft diameter over 350 million miles, then drop a one-ton semi-autonomous nuclear-powered ATV on target in working condition 13.8 light-minutes away? No problem.

What's even more amazing: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/673734main_PIA15978-43_516-387.jpg

Curiosity Spotted on Parachute by Orbiter
NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as Curiosity descended to the surface on Aug. 5 PDT (Aug. 6 EDT). The High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera captured this image of Curiosity while the orbiter was listening to transmissions from the rover. Curiosity and its parachute are in the center of the white box; the inset image is a cutout of the rover stretched to avoid saturation. The rover is descending toward the etched plains just north of the sand dunes that fringe "Mt. Sharp." From the perspective of the orbiter, the parachute and Curiosity are flying at an angle relative to the surface, so the landing site does not appear directly below the rover.

The parachute appears fully inflated and performing perfectly. Details in the parachute, such as the band gap at the edges and the central hole, are clearly seen. The cords connecting the parachute to the back shell cannot be seen, although they were seen in the image of NASA's Phoenix lander descending, perhaps due to the difference in lighting angles. The bright spot on the back shell containing Curiosity might be a specular reflection off of a shiny area. Curiosity was released from the back shell sometime after this image was acquired.

This view is one product from an observation made by HiRISE targeted to the expected location of Curiosity about one minute prior to landing. It was captured in HiRISE CCD RED1, near the eastern edge of the swath width (there is a RED0 at the very edge). This means that the rover was a bit further east or downrange than predicted.

[Anthony Barreiro]

This is a very exciting accomplishment, and an interesting picture. The picture of the the parachute and capsule from MRO is breathtaking. I'm looking forward to many more apod's from Curiosity, with informative captions and links.

Hey, is that Matt Harding dancing over the distant hills?

[BMAONE23]

Here is a nice Red-Blue stereo image

Click to view full size image

[ta152h0]

check and see if all the hubcaps are still on. Cheers for our ( tax money well spent ) team and an ice cold one for their successfull drive
W

[StarCuriousAero]

mars alien.jpg

This was good for a few laughs if anyone is interested in a venture off the apod site.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-internet-responds-to-the-mars-rover-landing

[emc]

That’s one small wheel from JPL/NASA
And one giant planet for mankind

Ok so the wheel is as big as my truck’s
And Mars don’t compare to Jupiter
But what’s the point of sending a pickup truck to a distant planet?
And what’s the point of sending a wheeled vehicle to Jupiter?

Congrats to those wizards at JPL and NASA

[Beyond]

Spirit - Oppertunity - Curiosity. The 3-Roveteers, having a Great adventure on Mars.

[ta152h0]

I thought the descent camera was mounted on the skycrane . Anyone know yet where the beast crashed ?

[Chris Peterson]

I thought the descent camera was mounted on the skycrane . Anyone know yet where the beast crashed ?

The descent camera is on Curiosity. All the bits and pieces have been imaged on the surface: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15094&p=181122#p181122

[rghoeing@buffalo.edu]

A stunning achievement, landing Curiosity. And I am so glad they named it so, not some BS like "Operation Space Freedom" or "Conqueror" or the like. Let's keep space exploration pure from propaganda.

[Way Cool]

This is just so absolutely cool as can be! WOW! Nice work! Well done NASA!

The adventure begins....

[DavidLeodis]

A superb achievement. I hope the dust on the lens does not cause too much problem.

I hope Curiosity does well. I'm still in awe for the remarkable Spirit and Opportunity rovers!

[astrotom]

I am also impressed by the recent NASA achievements. isn't it great to see how far mankind has made it? i think it is interesting what the spirit and knowledge can do. Now after the moon we have Mars on the schedule to be explored as well. Just amazing!

[neufer]

First two-frame Navcam mosaic from Curiosity: NASA / JPL / James Canvin
The view is north, toward Gale crater's rim, 20 kilometers away.

Astrobob: This graphic shows the locations of the cameras on NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover’s mast features seven cameras: the Remote Micro Imager, part of the Chemistry and Camera suite; four black-and-white Navigation Cameras (two on the left and two on the right) and two color Mast Cameras (Mastcams).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Curiosity's landscape on Mars
Posted By Emily Lakdawalla, 2012/08/08

<<Curiosity fired up her Navigational Cameras on Sol 2 and began to take a look around her. I think we're going to like it here!

Curiosity took the photos for this mosaic on sol 2 (August 8, 2012). I think it's a pretty safe assumption that those two dark craters with bright splashes around them in the left foreground show where the descent rockets were impinging on the ground as the Skycrane gently lowered Curiosity to a landing. That suggests to me that the soil around here really is pretty disturbed, and I wonder if it would be better to drive Curiosity a little way away from the landing site before firing up the instruments on the robotic arm. If they don't address that at this morning's briefing, I'll ask about it.>>