November 27, 2011 at 13:17Curiosity Mission
Probably, many hawkers know that yesterday NASA successfully launched the MSL rover, better known as Curiosity. The path to Mars, according to calculations, will take the rover 9 months, in August 2012, MSL will be in the crater of Gale.
The mission aims to search for traces of life on Mars and study the geological history of the planet. MSL is equipped with three cameras and four spectrometers, one of which is called SAM and is designed to search for organic materials. The CheMin device is intended for chemical analysis of rocks, with its help it will be possible to determine whether there was once water on the surface of Mars.
The energy source for Curiosity for the first time will not be solar panels, but a plutonium electric generator. This will ensure the work of a larger number of scientific instruments, including two color 2Mpx cameras for three-dimensional video recording and a Russian neutron albedo detector. In addition, thanks to the plutonium energy source, Curiosity will be able to function during the cold Martian winter, when the temperature on the planet reaches -80 ° and below. The same source of energy will solve the problem of dust pollution of solar panels of the rover, as a result of which the device could be without electricity.
In this regard, I would like to bring to the attention of the Habr audience a video demonstrating the future course of the Curiosity mission - take-off, interplanetary flight, “marching” and, in fact, work on the Red Planet. The video was made spectacularly, realistically and, most importantly, reliably - a channel of the California Institute of Technology - and very impressive. One would like to note that the future is already very close!
The mission aims to search for traces of life on Mars and study the geological history of the planet. MSL is equipped with three cameras and four spectrometers, one of which is called SAM and is designed to search for organic materials. The CheMin device is intended for chemical analysis of rocks, with its help it will be possible to determine whether there was once water on the surface of Mars.
The energy source for Curiosity for the first time will not be solar panels, but a plutonium electric generator. This will ensure the work of a larger number of scientific instruments, including two color 2Mpx cameras for three-dimensional video recording and a Russian neutron albedo detector. In addition, thanks to the plutonium energy source, Curiosity will be able to function during the cold Martian winter, when the temperature on the planet reaches -80 ° and below. The same source of energy will solve the problem of dust pollution of solar panels of the rover, as a result of which the device could be without electricity.
In this regard, I would like to bring to the attention of the Habr audience a video demonstrating the future course of the Curiosity mission - take-off, interplanetary flight, “marching” and, in fact, work on the Red Planet. The video was made spectacularly, realistically and, most importantly, reliably - a channel of the California Institute of Technology - and very impressive. One would like to note that the future is already very close!