Comments on: Crater with Mysterious Mountain Will Be the Landing Site for Next Mars Rover

By: eman

eman — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:04:00 +0000

and i can not wait till they start sending back pictures … yeah i’ll admit it,, im a nerd ! and im damn proud of it!

By: Prestiti Inpdap

Prestiti Inpdap — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:24:31 +0000

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By: Baric

Baric — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:53:33 +0000

Mission planners intend to send the instrument-laden Curiosity up the lower flanks of the mountain to examine the layers. Its robotic arm is designed to pick up samples that two of the 10 instruments will be able to ingest for analysis.

Past studies from orbiting spacecraft show the mineral signatures of clays and sulfate salts, which form in the presence of water, concentrated in older layers near the bottom of the mountain.

“Both of those are key classes of minerals that tell us about the environment on Mars and the interaction of water with that environment, and water is critical to habitability,” said Dawn Sumner, a geologist from the University of California, Davis.

By: Messier Tidy Upper

Messier Tidy Upper — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 12:35:32 +0000

@ ^ Brian Too : I could be mistaken but I don’t think Curiousity (the Mars Science Laboratory) is as far over budget and behind schedule as the James Webb Space Telescope is. Expect there are always budget pressures on them but I’m not sure.

Hopefully, the JWST will be re-instated and still go ahead.

As for the reasons for choosing Gale crater they’re all good I’m sure but please tell me that the *real* reason is that some of the boys at JPL are fans of the great West Indian batsman Chris Gayle! ;-)

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:03:29 +0000

Not to jinx it or anything, but is the Mars Science Laboratory under the same kind of budget pressure as the James Webb space telescope?

By: Brian Schmidt

Brian Schmidt — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:33:08 +0000

Curiosity blasts off from Florida this fall, not in two years.