DocM Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 The Mars Science Laboratory, aka Curiosity, is scheduled for launch Nov. 25, 2011. Curiosity will be the largest robotic rover so far, about the size of a Mini Cooper car & weighing 900 kg, and will be nuclear powered so no downtime due to lack of solar power. It also has a high degree of autonomy - not needing a full time driver they can tell it where to go and it'll drive itself. Curiosity will have a wide array of sensors ranging from multiple high resolution cameras & HD video to an x-ray spectrometer, chemical laboratory, biological laboratory, radiation sensors, etc. etc. It even has a powerful laser with which it can vaporize materials at a range of up to 7 meters so an optical spectrograph (ChemCam) can analyse the resulting plasma. Energy at the focal point: 10 megawatts. A bigtime powerhouse. Curiosity will ride on an Atlas V 541 launcher, the numbers indicating a 5.4 meter diameter payload fairing, 1 core booster, and 4 solid fuel rockets strapped to the core. The second stage will have 2 Centaur liquid hydrogen engines. Big. This is going to be fun :) http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ MER-Spirit/Opportunity, Sojourner, and MSL-Curiosity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisp Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 Humans should be next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Go Curiosity, go go go!!! love her, what a beaut. and nuclear power....yum! i hope she brings us a lot of good new science and will help mobilize the public to see what's our natural and destined path to the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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