MARS ROVER CURIOSITY GIVES NEW WHEELS A SPIN
DARPA HAS ARTIFICIAL BLOOD; CULLEN FAMILY STOCK UPGRADED TO ‘BUY’
July 14, 2010PICTURES FROM MONG KOK
July 15, 2010The Mars Science Laboratory rover, aka Curiosity, is currently undergoing assembly and testing. Scheduled for a 2011 launch, Curiosity is way bigger, and capable of a lot more science, than either little Sojourner or not-so-little Opportunity (which is still going, by the way).
It must be pretty stressful to be an engineer working on MSL, knowing that at some point you just have to say, “okay, looks good” and then the robot takes off for Mars and there’s nothing more you can do, ever. And for better or worse, Spirit and Opportunity have set some pretty high (I’m not sure whether to say “unrealistic”) standards for durability and performance. I’m optimistic, though, and as long as the crazy landing scheme works out, MSL has tons of potential. Video of the robotic “skycrane” that’ll set Curiosity down on the surface of Mars, after the jump.
[ MSL ]
