Curiosity on track for August landing
Posted: Tue, Jun 12, 2012, 7:06 AM ET (1106 GMT)
Project engineers have narrowed the landing site for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover while the space agency played down a potential contamination issue with one of the rover's instruments. Officials said Monday they have revised the "landing ellipse", the targeted landing site for the rover, has shrunk from 20 by 25 kilometers to 7 by 20 kilometers, allowing a more precise landing near the base of Mt. Sharp, the peak in the middle of Gale Crater that will be the focus of the rover's scientific studies. The landing is scheduled for 1:31 am EDT (0531 GMT) August 6 and, if successful, the rover will begin at least two years of operations. NASA also acknowledged Monday an issue with a drill on the rover that could contaminate rock samples with flecks of Teflon from the drill bit. Project officials said there are workarounds to reduce or eliminate any effects of mixing Teflon with samples.
Project engineers have narrowed the landing site for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover while the space agency played down a potential contamination issue with one of the rover's instruments. Officials said Monday they have revised the "landing ellipse", the targeted landing site for the rover, has shrunk from 20 by 25 kilometers to 7 by 20 kilometers, allowing a more precise landing near the base of Mt. Sharp, the peak in the middle of Gale Crater that will be the focus of the rover's scientific studies. The landing is scheduled for 1:31 am EDT (0531 GMT) August 6 and, if successful, the rover will begin at least two years of operations. NASA also acknowledged Monday an issue with a drill on the rover that could contaminate rock samples with flecks of Teflon from the drill bit. Project officials said there are workarounds to reduce or eliminate any effects of mixing Teflon with samples.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
SpaceX sets Nov. 18 launch date for sixth Starship test flight
Posted: Sat, Nov 9 9:57 AM ET (1457 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, November 24
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base
KFMB-TV San Diego — 2:26 am ET (0726 GMT) Dawn Aerospace Achieves Historic Flight - Breaks Sound Barrier and Global Records
Dawn Aerospace — 2:23 am ET (0723 GMT) Elon Musk’s most remarkable achievement – making space travel boring
The Independent — 2:21 am ET (0721 GMT) SpaceX launches 20 Starlink satellites on the 400th Falcon 9 rocket
Spaceflight Now — 2:12 am ET (0712 GMT) Watch Rocket Lab launch 5 French 'Internet of Things' satellites Nov. 24
SPACE.com — 2:11 am ET (0711 GMT) |
