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NASA's Curiosity rover receives long-distance OTA update, 'brain transplant' on Mars
Think it's nifty when your carrier deigns to provide your smartphone with that long awaited OTA update? That's nothing. Over the weekend, NASA's Curiosity rover will be receiving its first long-distance OTA update -- all the way out there on Mars. The goal is to transition both redundant main computers from software suited for landing the vehicle to software optimized for surface exploration -- such as driving, obstacle avoidance and using the robotic arm. NASA calls it a "brain transplant" and points out that the software was actually uploaded during the flight from Earth. Now can someone please enable OTA downloads for the human brain? We'd really like to know kung fu. PR after the break.
NASA's Curiosity Mars landing successful, first pictures trickling in (video)
After "seven minutes of terror" involving guided entry, parachute and powered descent, and even a sky crane, NASA's Curiosity rover has successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. Better yet, the 2,000lbs (900kg) science lab has established communications with Earth and is sending back telemetry along with the first pictures of Gale crater. These initial grayscale images are only 256 x 256 pixels in size but show Curiosity's shadow on the Martian soil. Peek at our galley below and stay tuned for updates. Update: Hit the break to check out a video of all the "seven minutes of terror" highlights. %Gallery-161818%
Watch NASA's Curiosity rover touch down on Mars, live at 1:30AM EDT
You watched the launch, bit your nails over computer simulations and even played the game, and it all comes down to today: NASA's Curiosity rover is about to land on Mars. The $2.5 billion vehicle has been en route to the red planet for eight months, and in a few short hours will spend seven terrifying minutes blindly making its way to the Martian surface -- only to make NASA scientists wait another full seven before reporting on its success or failure. The rover is flying solo. That doesn't mean we can't be there in spirit, however: NASA TV will be broadcasting the event on Ustream, offering commentary from the minds behind the rover, as well as audio from mission control. The Curiosity Cam, which runs from 11:30PM until 2:00AM EDT and 3:30AM to 4:30AM EDT, will offer commentary from the scientists and engineers behind Curiosity, while a second feed (at NASA JPL Live, which runs from 11:30PM onward) will play audio from mission control. If all goes to plan, NASA will be able to share an image from Curiosity's navigation cameras, confirming its safe arrival on the Martian surface. Sounds like a hell of a show to us. Read on to view the Curiosity Cam right here or check out the source links below to prep your evening (or early morning) viewing for yourself. Let us know your own thoughts on Curiosity's landing in the comments. Update: Touchdown confirmed! The entire sequence went perfectly to plan, and rover Curiosity is now on the surface of Mars and sending telemetry data. Update: NASA's press conference is now happening live.
Mars Rover game hits Xbox Live, tasks you with safely landing the Curiosity with Kinect
NASA has already made it clear that the Curiosity's touchdown on Mars is a nerve-wracking experience, what with the seven minutes of radio silence, zero margin of error and all. To drive that point home, the organization partnered with Microsoft to offer Xbox Live players the experience of controlling the nerve-wracking descent. Starting Monday, you'll be able to download the free Mars Rover Landing, NASA's first Xbox Live game. The title uses the Kinect motion controller to simulate the many phases of landing, including dropping the heat shield and deploying the supersonic parachute, with players' movements controlling the speed and direction of the craft as it approaches the Red Planet. You'll get three scores -- one for each of the landing process -- not to mention some newfound appreciation for what employees at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be going through on August 5th.
NASA launches Spacecraft 3D app for iOS, lets you explore its Curiosity and a lot more
Chances are most of us (you included) know this isn't NASA's first dive into the iOS pool, and the agency's latest addition to its app portfolio is surely going to make a high number of explorers very space happy. Dubbed Spacecraft 3D, the augmented reality application will let folks poke around the various, curious rovers and GRAILS NASA uses to explore our planet, the rest of the solar system and, of course, the entire abysmal universe. Even better, NASA's handing out the app free of charge, so those of you with a "Designed in California" device can grab it now from the App Store, and don't forget to check out the presser down below to soak in the official word. %Gallery-160255%
NASA's Seven Minutes of Terror: Curiosity's precarious Mars landing explained (video)
Edited and scored with the dramatic tension of a summer blockbuster trailer, NASA's put together a gripping short clip that dresses down Curiosity's mission to Mars for the layman. The "car-sized" rover, set to touchdown on August 5th of this year at 10:31PM PDT, is currently journeying towards the Red Planet on a suicide mission of sorts, with the success of its make it or break it EDL (enter, descent, landing) wracking the nerves of our Space Agency's greatest minds in advance. Their cause for concern? A period of radio silence, dubbed the "seven minutes of terror" for the amount of time it takes a signal to reach Earth, during which the craft will have already either smashed disastrously into the Martian landscape or nestled perfectly down from the ascend phase on a 21ft long tether. The logistics involved are so numerous and prone to error -- slowing the craft from 13,000 mph to 0 mph and then deploying, detaching and avoiding collision with the supersonic parachute for starters -- that it's a wonder the government ever signed off on the project. If it all does come off without a hitch, however, the ladies and gents down at Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory certainly deserve several thousand bottles of the finest bubbly taxpayers' money can buy. Click on past the break to gape at the sequence of engineering feats required to make this landing on terra incognita.
ESA team builds self-piloting rover in six months, tests it in Chilean desert
Chile's Atacama Desert might not be true Martian territory, but it's close enough for the European Space Agency's new rover. Built by a crack engineering team in just six months, the Seeker rover was created to autonomously roam 6 km of Mars-like terrain and trace its way back. The Seeker just wrapped up a two week gauntlet in the Chilean wasteland using ol' fashioned dead reckoning and stereoscopic vision to find its way, compiling a 3D map of its surroundings as it puttered along. The full-scale rover wandered the arid terrain on its lonesome until temperatures forced it to stop after trekking 5.1 km. The red planet won't welcome an ESA rover until 2018, but those jonesin' for news from Martian soil should keep their eyes peeled for Curiosity's August touchdown.
Nike and Tom Sachs reach for the stars, create NikeCraft sportswear with space-grade materials
Just because you're not an astronaut, it doesn't mean you can't dress yourself in clothes that are out of this world. Artist Tom Sachs recently teamed up with Nike to create a limited edition lineup of spacey sports clothing, dubbed NikeCraft, to coincide with his current Space Program project -- a rendition of a four-week trip to Mars. The company highlights that the roster was made with "materials that have never been used in sportswear," some of which has already made its way onto NASA's equipment for space-travel. As ecouterre points out, among what's on offer you'll find bags made from the Ortho fabric used on the outside of spacesuits to the Mars Yard shoe with Vectran fiber -- the same stuff from the airbags of the Mars Excursion Rover. There's nary a detail about pricing, but the goods will be available at various boutiques around the world and at Space Program: Mars while it's open through June 17th at New York City's Park Avenue Armory. Hit up the links below to gaze at all the details. Just because you're not an astronaut doesn't mean that you can't dress yourself in clothes that are out of this world. Artist Tom Sachs recently teamed up with Nike to create a limited edition lineup of of spacey sports clothing, dubbed NikeCraft, to coincide with his current Space Program project -- a rendition of a four week trip to Mars. As ecouterre notes, the highlight of the pieces is that they're all manufactured (partially, at least) with materials used by NASA in its own equipment. Among what's on offer, you'll find bags made from the Ortho fabric used on the outside of spacesuits to the Mars Yard shoes with Vectran fabric -- the same stuff from the airbags of the Mars Excursion Rover. There's nary a detail about pricing, but the goods will be available at various boutiques around the world and at Space Program: Mars while it's open until Jun 17th inside of New York City's Park Avenue Armory. You'll find more details
NASA's Curiosity rover is on its way to Mars (video)
It's been described by the scientist in charge as "the most complex mission that has ever been undertaken to the surface of another planet," and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is now well on its way to Mars. An Atlas V rocket carrying the Curiosity rover launched from Cape Canaveral this morning, and a successful separation of the craft occurred in space shortly thereafter, kicking off a journey to Mars that's expected to end with a rocket-powered descent to the planet in August of next year. Video of both events are after the break, and additional details can be found at the links below
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity gains DAN apparatus, new lust for water
"You can think of DAN as a reconnaissance instrument." That's a quote from Igor Mitrofanov of the Space Research Institute, Russia, who is being deemed the "principal investigator" of the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons. Shortened to DAN for obvious reasons, this guy will soon be affixed to NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, with one primary purpose: to "check for any water that might be bound into shallow underground minerals along the rover's path." In total, ten instruments on Curiosity will be dedicated to investigating whether the area selected for the mission has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for life and favorable for preserving evidence about life. We're told that while in active mode, it's sensitive enough to detect water content as low as one-tenth of one percent in the ground beneath the rover, but there's still no indication of when it'll actually prove that Mars truly is the next major relocation hotspot. Something tells us Richard Branson will be ready, regardless.
Kapvik micro-rover is the useful sidekick Mars Rovers have always dreamed of
Mars Rovers are big, expensive and prone to damage -- that's why a team from Carleton University is developing the Kapvik micro-rover. Kapvik is designed as a remote-operated sidekick to the primary rover, capable of being dispatched as a scout or to handle side-missions on its own. After the Spirit Rover was trapped in soft soil and lost, the smaller bots will include tethers to pull bigger robots out of trouble -- reducing the chances of losing millions of dollars worth of equipment (and breaking more nerd hearts than a cancelled Daft Punk show). Testing on the newly-unsheathed Kapvik continues, and we've got some sneaky behind-the-scenes footage purporting to be an early test of the bot's Pioneer navigation system after the break. Update: Tim Setterfield from the program has very generously supplied us with a fresh video of the micro-rover as it traverses the sort of bumps that would make previous Mars Rovers run screaming to their mothers, check it out after the break.
Curiosity rover to land in Mars's Gale Crater to look for life, finally answer Bowie's nagging questions
It's gotten its own photo shoot, some cool animation, and the interest of James Cameron -- and now Curiosity finally has a destination. NASA's pluckily-named Mars rover is set to land next to a mountain inside the red planet's 96-mile-wide Gale Crater. Curiosity is scheduled to touch down in August 2012 in search of life on the fourth rock from the sun. The crater, one of 60 suggested sites, was chosen due to its potential for a safe landing and the possibility of scientific discovery, thanks in part to nearby geographical formations that may have been created by water. Here's hoping it encounters some serious space oddities when it gets there.
NASA abandons Mars rover Spirit, chooses to remember the good times
More than a year after it first lost contact with its Mars rover Spirit, NASA has finally decided to throw in the towel. Yesterday, the agency confirmed that it will end all planned communications with the robot on May 25th, effectively ending the craft's seven-year mission. NASA was hoping that the approaching Martian spring would allow the Spirit to recharge its solar panels and re-establish radio contact, but it now appears that the craft sustained irreparable damage last winter, when it was forced to endure brutally cold temperatures. NASA executive David Lavery, however, says the rover team will remember the Spirit more for its achievements than its slow demise: "I think we'll all sit around and have a sip of Guinness and reminisce about when Spirit was a wee small little rover and look back at the accomplishments and successes rover had over its entire lifetime." So the Spirit's spirit will live on, but what about NASA's mission to Mars? Well, the Opportunity is still in good health and, later this year, will be joined by the next-generation, nuclear-powered rover Curiosity, which will investigate whether or not Mars ever supported life forms. Meanwhile, NASA's network of orbiting spacecraft will continue to passively listen for signals from the Spirit, just in case it miraculously comes back to life. Full PR after the break.
NASA animation depicts Curiosity's soft landing on Mars, courtesy of a 'sky crane' (video)
Sending a rover to a distant planet is no small feat, so we might as well make the landing even more spectacular, right? That's exactly what NASA has in mind for its Curiosity Mars rover, albeit for more practical reasons. Launching in late 2011 and expected to land on Mars in August 2012, this mobile laboratory will see a unique descent after entering the Martian atmosphere: there'll be the usual separation from the heatshield and backshell, but at about 380 seconds into the entry, the rover will be gently lowered down by wire from a "sky crane," as opposed to taking a leap of faith. Once the landing is complete, the hovering sky crane will then detach from the rover and fly off for a dramatic disposal -- let's just hope it won't hit the now-dormant Spirit. See for yourself in the video above.
NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover stars in its very own photoshoot
NASA's already given us a glimpse at its Mars rover, courtesy of a USTREAM broadcast a few months back, but the crew over at BoingBoing has taken one small step for mankind by going even further in-depth with Curiosity before it launches in November. One lucky photographer was granted permission into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and the fruits of his bunny-suited labor showcase the nooks and crannies of NASA's latest and greatest. We're still kind of bummed that the rover won't be equipped with a zoom 3D camera as originally planned, but we've got a hunch James Cameron's taking it even harder. Be sure to hit the source link for a whole smattering of more angles, if intergalactic spacecrafts are your thing.
NASA forced to abandon plans for 3D camera in next Mars rover, James Cameron not losing faith yet
Among the many great feats of his career, film director James Cameron counts the rather unorthodox achievement of being able to convince NASA to use a stereoscopic camera on its next Mars rover project. Unfortunately for him, us, and the hard working folks over at Malin Space Science Systems, technical snags have been encountered in the integration of the jumbo mastcam (pictured above) with the rover's hardware and the resulting delays have caused NASA to nix the idea altogether. You might think that 3D visuals of Red Planet gravel will be no great loss, but the MSSS cams also had zoom lenses attached, whereas the research project will now be returning to tried and true fixed focal length imaging. Ah well, such is the bumpy road to interterrestrial enlightenment. NASA's rover, titled Curiosity, is set to begin its voyage in November of this year, while Cameron and co remain upbeat about the future, saying they're "certain that this technology will play an important role in future missions."
Watch the next Mars rover being built... via USTREAM! (video)
Does the idea of live video from JPL, where NASA's best and brightest are assembling the next Mars Rover, promise excitement and adventure? Perhaps not entirely. Are we holding out for a little more than some guys in clean suits gazing thoughtfully at the thing for minutes on end? Yes we are. You know as well as anybody how much we love our civilian space program, and how giddy with excitement we tend to get whenever they announce some new technology, so we're wishing everyone involved much success with this latest endeavor. And we're really hoping that things pick up a little on the USTREAM. As for the rover itself, it's called Curiosity, and it should launch a year or so from now, putting it on the red planet sometime in August 2012. Get a good look after the break.
Draper Labs develops prototype Mars Hopper
The Mars rover, that self-propelled, solar powered box o' sensors 'n stuff that slowly inches along the surface (and battles the fierce environment) of the red planet may be a mainstay of space exploration, but it's certainly not the only way to get the job done. For instance, the kids at Draper Labs -- last seen in this space with their injectable nanosensor -- are in the process of developing vehicles that would (literally) leave traditional rovers in the dust. The Draper Hopper prototype is designed with a ducted fan propulsion system that uses compressed nitrogen gas to cover twenty-five miles in a few days or, at best, a few hours. By way of comparison, NASA's Spirit and Opportunity craft have covered roughly twenty miles since hitting the Martian surface in early 2004. Of course, the hoppers will have to bring fuel with them, so their lifespans will be cut drastically shorter than their wheel-based contemporaries, but we've always believed more autonomous vehicles should "live fast / die young," like Sid Vicious or James Dean. With any luck, we should see test flights by January 2011.
NASA's Athlete Mars rover does a little dance, gets down tonight (video)
Its been a few years since we last checked in on NASA's All Terrain Hex Limbed Extra Terrestrial Explorer rover -- aka, Athlete. Now a half-scale working prototype standing 15 feet tall, weighing 2.5 tons (about 2,300 kg), and capable of a 1.25 mph (2 kmph) top speed has been set loose for testing by its Jet Propulsion Laboratory creators. Its first task, set to begin next month in Arizona, will be to complete a test circuit of at least 25 miles (about 40 km) in two weeks under its own power. Failing that, we hear Woz is looking for a dance partner. See what we mean in the video of Athlete demonstrating a flare for cargo transport after the break.
Spirit Rover may not live through bitter Martian winter
NASA's Opportunity and Spirit rovers touched down on Mars in 2004 for a planned 90-day tour; six years and a few serious snags later, the latter of the two is facing its death of cold. Since March 22, 2010, Spirit's been slumbering on the surface -- stuck and unable to generate enough power to communicate -- and while internal heaters and a favorable position on a sun-facing slope allowed the rover to survive previous Martian winters, this time the chances aren't so good. "The rover is experiencing the coldest temperatures it's ever been in – equivalent to about minus 55 degrees Celsius," NASA told Space.com. Should Spirit wake up next year, it will resume a stationary mission to help scientists determine whether Mars has a liquid core, but if not there's always the chance it might spontaneously regain power still find utility in another decade or four. Still not on the docket: ever returning home.
