After more than eight months in space, in a journey spanning 36 weeks and 567 million kilometers, Nasa’s Curiosity rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars at approximately 1200 hrs IST, today.
The 900kg science lab has established communications with Earth has shown off the first pictures of Gale crater. These initial grayscale images show Curiosity’s shadow on the Martian soil.
The exciting journey culminated in what NASA called “seven minutes of terror”, wherein the craft enters Mars’ atmosphere, it will have just seven minutes to go from 13,000 mph to zero, as part of its entry, descent, and landing. The process involved guided entry, parachute and powered descent, and even a sky crane, which included temperatures of 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
Charles Bolden Jr, Administrator of NASA, said, “It’s a huge day for the nation. Everybody in the morning should be sticking their chest out and saying ‘That’s my rover on Mars,’ because it belongs to all of us.”
NASA has also created a 3D simulation of the Curiosity’s flight path, allowing you to see a virtual representation of the rover as it travels to Mars. The rover’s location can also be viewed in real-time.
Curiosity is the name of NASA’s latest rover, packed with nuclear powered robot whose lasers and sensors, that are intended to help determine, if Mars could ever have supported life. The rover was launched on November 26th, 2011. Curiosity’s mission is to send the newest and most complete information about Mars’s climate and geology, laying the groundwork for a future manned mission to the red planet.
I hope NASA has taken care to ensure that the Curiosity is not polluting the areas it visit on Mars in any way. The Aliens may not like it. 😉
