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Subscribe to RSSThe NASA rover Curiosity has taken its first test drive on the Red Planet. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
NASA's Curiosity rover made its first drive on Mars today, more than two weeks after its high-stakes landing on the Red Planet. To celebrate the day, as well as what would have been the late science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday, NASA said the rover's landing site would be forever known as Bradbury Landing.
The raw images, displayed on the Mars Science Laboratory mission's Web portal, showed the tracks of the rover's wheels curling around and backing up, in accordance with the driving plan that was sent up overnight.
Today's drive amounted to only about 23 feet (7 meters) of maneuvers, but it represented the first step in a $2.5 billion, two-year trek that's expected to go at least 12 miles (20 kilometers) and take in a commanding view from the flanks of a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain within 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater.
The mission's project manager, Peter Theisinger, said the drive "couldn't be more important."
"We built a rover," he told reporters during today's briefing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "So unless the rover roves, we couldn't really accomplish anything. It's a big moment."
The drive also marked a transition for the Curiosity team — from the entry, descent and landing phase of the mission, known as EDL, to surface operations and rover mobility. "Wheel tracks on Mars. The EDL team is finally done. :) Congrats to the mobility and surface teams!" Allen Chen, the mission's EDL operations and flight dynamics lead, declared in a Twitter update.
Lead rover driver Matt Heverly said that today's drive started at 7:17 a.m. PT (10:17 a.m. ET) and lasted roughly 16 minutes. "The majority of that time was spent taking images," he said. The rover rolled out 15 feet (4.5 meters), made a 120-degree turn in place, and then backed up 8 feet (2.5 meters) to a new spot for scientific observations.
Lead rover driver Matt Heverly explains the maneuvers that went into Curiosity's first Martian excursion.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
A polar projection image, assembled from pictures taken by the Curiosity rover's navigation cameras, shows the tracks of the rover at Bradbury Landing on Mars as seen from above.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
An image from the navigation-camera system on NASA's Curiosity rover shows the six-wheeled craft's hardware in the foreground, and wheel tracks going around a rock just a few yards (meters) away.
NASA / JPL-Caltech
A mosaic of black-and-white images shows a panoramic view of the Curiosity rover's trail, including wheel tracks leading to an area where the rover turned in a circle, and then backed up to its current position. Four blast marks, or "scours," can be made out near where the rover landed. The flanks of Mount Sharp can be seen in the far background, toward the upper left corner of the frame.
Team members celebrate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory when images are received confirming the rover's first drive.
First trek will follow checkouts
Since the rover's landing on the night of Aug. 5, Curiosity has been going through a series of checkouts and taking pictures of its immediate surroundings. Nearly all of the systems are working as planned — with the sole exception of wind sensors on one of the booms connected to the rover's weather station. Scientists speculate that the circuit boards for those sensors were probably damaged by small rocks that were thrown up onto the rover during landing. Despite the damage, the weather station will be able to gather wind speed data using other sensors.
Curiosity's first destination will be a spot known as Glenelg, about a quarter-mile (400 meters) from the landing site, where three types of geological formations come together. That months-long trek could begin in about a week, deputy project scientist Joy Crisp said today. The rover's first scoop sample could be taken on the route between Bradbury Landing and Glenelg, she said, but the first drilling sample would probably be extracted at Glenelg.
By the end of the year, the nuclear-powered rover is expected to retrace its route and head toward the mountain, known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The layers of rock along the mountainside are thought to preserve a geological record going back billions of years.
The primary goal of Curiosity's mission is to look for geological and chemical evidence that could reveal how habitable Mars might have been over eons of geological time. To take on that challenge, the 1-ton, car-sized rover has been equipped with a bevy of scientific instruments — including high-resolution color cameras, two onboard chemical labs, an X-ray spectrometer and a rock-zapping laser.
Theisinger said Curiosity was making "excellent progress" at Bradbury Landing, 16 days into a mission that could last far longer than its scheduled duration of nearly two Earth years. "We've got a long way to go before this mission reaches its full potential," he said. "But the fact that we haven't had any early problems is fantastic."
In memoriam
Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, announced the naming of the landing site at the start of today's news briefing. He began by airing a clip of Bradbury discussing Mars with Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan and other luminaries, just before NASA's Mariner 9 probe entered the Red Planet's orbit in 1971. During that session, Bradbury read a short poem titled "If Only We Had Taller Been."
Ray Bradbury reads a poem about space exploration on the eve of Mariner 9's arrival at Mars in 1971.
A Mars rover driver pays tribute to author and visionary, Ray Bradbury.
Bradbury, best known for science-fiction tales such as "The Martian Chronicles" and "Fahrenheit 451," passed away in June at the age of 91. "Today would have been Ray Bradbury's 92nd birthday, but he's already reached immortality in his short stories and books," Meyer observed. In his honor, Meyer said the landing site would "forever be known as Bradbury Landing."
In a statement issued by NASA, Meyer said deciding on the name "was not a difficult choice for the science team."
"Many of us, and millions of other readers were inspired in our lives by stories Ray Bradbury wrote to dream of the possibility of life on Mars," he said.
Today's christening adds to NASA's list of Martian landing sites named after VIPs, including:
- Mutch Memorial Station, the Viking 1 lander site, named after Thomas Mutch, former NASA associate administrator and Viking team member.
- Soffen Memorial Station, the Viking 2 lander site, named after Gerald Soffen, NASA scientist and leader of the Viking mission.
- Sagan Memorial Station, the Mars Pathfinder landing site, named after astrophysicist Carl Sagan.
- Challenger Memorial Station, the Opportunity rover landing site, named in honor of the shuttle Challenger's fallen crew.
- Columbia Memorial Station, the Spirit rover landing site, named in honor of the shuttle Columbia's fallen crew.
More about Mars:
- 3-D adds depth to tracks on Mars
- Watch the rover fall to Mars ... in HD!
- Where's Curiosity going? Arm points the way
- Mars mega-rover wiggles its wheels
- Mars Curiosity rover flexes arm for first time
- Curiosity shoots at rock with its laser
- Britney Spears to Mars rover: What's new?
- Rover reveals more of Martian peak
- Mars rover team faces the masses
- Mars fans make viral video
- Panoramas add spin to Mars
- Mars rover survives its 'brain transplant'
- Mars orbiter gets a long look at Curiosity rover
- Reprogrammed rover getting ready to roll
- Obama tells rover team: Watch out for Martians
- Search for life to shape future Mars missions
- Why the rover has such a dinky camera and computer
- How to build your own Mars rover with Lego blocks
- The Puff on Mars: Photo mystery solved!
- Panorama reveals a colorful Mars
- NBC video: Panorama featured on 'Nightly News'
- Curiosity reveals a Martian Mojave
- Tour the Martian Mojave in 3-D
- Flying saucer spotted over Mars
- First 3-D pictures sent by Curiosity
- Orbital photo spots rover and its trash
- Curiosity sends color snapshot from Mars
- Rover video looks down on Mars during landing
- Mars orbiter spots rover in midair
- NASA's Mohawk Guy marvels at his fame
- Curiosity rover scores touchdown on Mars
This report was last updated at 5 p.m. ET.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Yayyy!!! Nice to see it starting to move.
I hope they are careful not to run over any sand worms.
Trust me.
There will be worms.
40 gozillion dollars so a bunch of tech guys can do donuts with their radio controlled Mars 6 wheeler.............
...............and help unlock the mysteries of the universe.
Is a wee copy of this rover being manufactured as the newest, most sought-after Christmas toy must-have?
Just think, kids could have a bunch of them in a sand or dirt pit and hold a demolition derby (space-style.)
Yes, Another ... there's a "Hot Wheels" version of the rover that's coming out next month (I have my order in already), and there's also a movement to have a Lego Curiosity rover kit produced. Here are a couple of stories about those items:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48730193
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48444202
I read that in three minutes (1/20 hour). Now i can finish my cup (8 oz) of coffee and get on with my day (24 hrs).
Thanks for the reply, Alan.
Of course I must ask, would that new Hot Wheels order be for yourself or for a youngster? Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind playing around with one of them myself if I knew someone who had them. :D
It's great to be a kid at heart, no matter how serious life can get sometimes. I enjoy many of your articles but don't always comment on the ones I read. Have a great day!
I hope the next 2 years of research go smoothly. With luck, hopefully that probe will last much much longer. I wonder what the potential life expectancy is on the power unit for the rover.
31 years of battery life .
The radioisotope thermoelectric generator could provide electrical power for decades ... But who knows how long the other parts will last?
Longer than the funding will.
In some of the photos the upper half looks a bit like the robot 5.
No disassemble!
Go get 'em Curiosity!!! ... and by 'em I mean the possible fossils or currently living bacteria.
life has already been found their but nasa wont tell da. their are living things up their toads ,crab creature and worms stuff.
This is where Wolowitz takes over.
Smooth reference. :-)
Best pickup line... "How would you like to drive a vehicle on Mars?"
Speaking of Wolowitz:
http://twitter.com/steltzner/status/238142750963404800/photo/1
This is interesting it is, but a complete waste of time and a PILE OF MONEY TO FEED THE STARVING PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD, people are loosing everything they have while the US sends a rover to Mars, for what!!!! are they going to find the next President of the United States up there, will they find instructions on how to lower Gas prices, food prices, Oh look water, so what!!! if they do find something what will that do for Earth, nothing!!!, Oh look a Yellow rock, so what!!!!, wasting Millions if not Billions of dollars to run a rover over Mars, now if they find a 7/11 up there and some big gulps that is another story.
Oh I read some more of the story, it's 2.5 Billion and they are going to look at a Crater, Oh wow!!! golly gee!!!, again 2.5 Billion could save alot of homes, just greedy money wasting America.
Obviously not, but they could crack the Hoffa case.
Reaching out for exploration could create many homes in the future.
When the discoveries and experiences from this mission have a direct impact on the lives we lead, it is people like you that will complain that it took us so long to make those discoveries.
If you are so opposed to the R&D money we spend on space, you are welcome to boycott everything we were able to develop based on the discoveries we made and technology that was invented to support space exploration. Here, I'll give you a list:
Advanced Lubricants - Ever use fancy synthetic oil the engine in your car?
Aircraft Collision Avoidance - For if you don't like crashing in to other planes while you fly
Artificial Heart - some people find these handy
Cordless Power Tools and Appliances
Doppler Radar - You can predict your own storms from now on
Fireman’s Air Tanks
Geosynchronous Orbiting - Ever use GPS or watch satellite TV?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) - Hope you never need one of these bad boys!
Smoke Detector Improvements - Who needs these, anyway?
Temper Foam Technology - You never get to own a memory foam mattress
Waste Water Purification - Speaking of helping people in third world countries...
Wireless Communications
...and this is just a small list of stuff that you might be able to comprehend.
One month's profit for ExxonMobil.
And Armor All. Imagine what our cars would look like without it.
El-none of those things you list come from space, it's a waste of Money to be on Mars, it was a waste of Money to go to the Moon and stick a flag in it, I'm not talking about those inventions, if they find the cure for Cancer up there I will shut up, and to Bassai good one with the Hoffa, maybe he is up there down in that Crater. There is nothing wrong with working with space, sending up satellites, etc, etc, it is a complete waste of time and money to go to a planet 36 million miles away, and it could go up to 250 million miles away depending on the orbit just to guide a rover and look at Rocks, Mountains, Craters, it's interesting and exciting but a waste of alot of money that this planet needs right now.
Oh and lets not forget that this could have been a disaster, a total failure if something went wrong, if it didn't make it, if it didn't work, if it blew up, they would have said, OH MAN!!! let's build another one, not even think of the money that they just wasted, and this has happened before with the Space Shuttle and they lost lives, a waste of money and people twice. Here is a story that I found on Google, just type in is the Mars rover a waste of money and read::::: I believe the missions to Mars are a complete waste of time and money. Sorry, but billions of earthpeople are suffering on with so many tragedies, wars, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunami/tidal waves, financial problems, unemployment, famines, droughts, floods, and other huge problems, including the rise of slavery, and the Greenhouse effect: and someone decides to spend huge amounts of money, to put a little rover on mars?
Read more: #ixzz24J0AqujJ
Steve, how does a new technology from NASA "come from space", and why must it "come from space" to count? As with many things in life, the destination does not always provide the answers we seek. Sometimes, the journey TO that destination provides more benefit. R&D is all about the journey, not the arrival, and R&D is where most new technology is developed.
The technology that El Duderino mentions, and LOTS more, was developed to support the space program, its people and its machines. That doesn't mean we found it "on the Moon", "on Mars" or "in space". Louis Pasteur didn't set out to invent modern pasteurization to preserve milk; he (and Claude Bernard) applied it to milk after seeking a way to prevent wine and beer from souring. But he, nonetheless, invented modern techniques that preserved milk, to the benefit of billions and continuing to this day. Should we disregard this invention because he didn't discover it with milk, or "in milk"?
The NASA budget is approximately 0.5% of the Federal budget. Yes that is ZERO POINT FIVE PERCENT (or ONE-HALF of ONE PERCENT) of the entire Federal budget. Please tell me you vigorously complain about how the other 99.5% of the budget is not used to fight hunger as well, else I'd say you have a lot more to argue about than NASA.
Regarding Curiosity in particular, you may well want to consider that, at the rate we are using up finite natural resources and destroying parts of the Earth, our only current home, learning as much as possible about the only other planet we can get to capable of supporting our species might be a good thing.
@Steve are you really that stupid? I mean come on now. He just listed off 12 things that were created due to our scientific journeys into space. There are many, many more.
The technology and R&D that goes into these space missions, and things discovered while out there have been a massive help to us down here.
And if they find evidence of life on Mars. Well, let's just say that would be the most important scientific discovery EVER!
Are you afraid if that happens, you might have to ditch your religion or believe the earth isn't flat?
Steve K, you are not alone in your views. There are many short-sighted people on this planet. Obviously, these people do not want to hear different views. They cannot understand them even if they tried. After all, it is only science. Science for the future of humanity.
Steve... Don't quite know if you are yanking our collective chain or not but money is useless unless it does something. It can be stuffed in a mattress and slept on, it can be invested and other people can use it, it can hire people and put them to work, etc. Personally I can't think of a better use for our money than the exploration of our solar system. That money puts our best brains to work doing things that would seem miraculous a half century ago not long after the WWII wasted some 30 million lives. Having government money put a man on the moon or a Rover on Mars is a stimulus worth many times the bottom line cost.
I did not know the rover is programmed to drop bags of cash at various locations on its trip around Mars. I thought all that cash went to programs here on Earth. I thought it paid salaries and wages and purchased parts and services from small and large businesses.
I know that these items did not come from space, they were created due to our trips there, but again this is a waste of time and money, who cares what percent it is, it's a big percent, 2.5 billion would feed all of the starving people on Earth, we are not talking about a percent of $100 that would be nothing, big deal, this is a lot of money, a waste. Being over in the middle east is a waste of money and lives, the money that Movie and Sports stars make is crazy, it is a waste, they go out and give there dogs weddings with it, so much money being wasted, but this is what America does so well, put there nose in other countries business and we have to fund it, raise prices on everything because they wasted all of the money and need to get it back, Oh!! let's not forget about all of the Mosques that the US is rebuilding with our tax dollars around the World, just go on line and read about it, let them fund it, let there countries rebuild them.
Forgot to mention religion, I do not have one, this is also another waste of time and alot of money on something that does not exist, maybe the rover will find God's house up there, YEAH RIGHT!!!.
Many of our technical advancements are a result of two things, wars and basic scientific R&D, much of this funded by government either through direct agency projects or university grants. These Many of these advancements have made it into everyday life. Companies also do research but, only if it leads to profit. If there is no market then no R&D. In many cases the Gov't sponsored projects provided the initial R&D know how that others have used for the basis of their R&D and ultimately products.
I don't know about you but I rather spend money on space exploration and other scientific inquiry to learn about the universe around us (even just for the knowledge - intelligent humans are curious nature) than on war machines
Steve - You're a big grump. To some of us, this is a very cool and interesting thing. Just because you disagree doesn't make a waste or any less of a major leap forward for science. It happened, sit back and marvel like the rest of us or move on to something that interest you like stepping on ants on the sidewalk.
$2.5 billion is less than what will be spent to elect your president this year. Over half a billion has been spent on their stupid ads already! The space program is the only thing people outside of the U.S. admire about your country anymore. (Sorry, but your democracy really is a joke now.) If you stop investing in space, China or India will do a brain drain of your smartest "rocket scientists" and the rest of the world will start working with them.
If humans never explored, we would still be living in Africa. Someone may say in a 100+ years, "If humans never explored, we would still be living on Earth."
Steve - You have to ask your self if you are the person that said the samething about Christopher Columbus? Look where we are today in America, looks like that worked well for man kind right.
You math is a little off, to say the least. According to WorldHunger.org (who admit it is very difficult to estimate how many are undernourished in the world), the number of "hungry" people on Earth is approximately 925 million. Let's take that as pretty solid for a moment. If we suddenly, instantly scrapped Curiosity and it turned into $2.5 billion bag of cash, that would provide about $2.70 PER PERSON to feed those 925 million hungry souls. You won't get much for ONE MEAL at $2.70, let alone one day, and the "hungry" out there need a lot more than one partial meal on one day. And with the $2.5 billion now gone, what do you do tomorrow? NASA's whole fiscal 2011 budget is approximately $18.5 billion. That would provide those 925 million hungry people about $20.00 to feed themselves, and no more NASA to scrap. Do you understand the scale we are talking now, and why 0.5% of the Federal budget is absolutely the least you could give NASA?
I understand your viewpoint; hungry/malnourishment is a very serious problem all across the Earth, including in this country. But abandoning scientific endeavors is NOT the way to solve that problem. It is also not the job of the US Government to feed hungry people all over the world. If we, as individual responsible citizens, want to provide financial assistance in that worthwhile endeavor that is up to each of us.
so far the trip its taking ...looks like its just going in circle's..
maybe we can find a good spot to plant a garden..then we can feed everyone...
Maybe we should just stop reproducing at an unsustainable rate.
Moving sooner than expected. The first news articles mentioned several months before the machine made movement. I'm glad it is working.
"So unless the rover roves, we couldn't really accomplish anything."
LOL, and that's why they choose that guy to talk to reporters.
Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep that rover movin', search for Martians groovin', Mars ride!!
Love it!
think I will compose a melody for those lyrics!!! Slap of leather anyone! YeeHaw....Rawhide!!
Good one Tony.
There will be worms.
Odd that the tracks look like tracks in somewhat moist soil here on Earth or at least containing some humidity the way its clumped together. Maybe that Martian soil is extremely fine and the cold makes it act that way.
Be careful applying Earth-based assumptions and observations to Mars, since nearly everything about the two planets is very different (gravity, atmospheric pressure, soil composition, and temperature certainly have little in common with each other).
That's why the people are green.
Maybe they will find Mitt Romney's Tax returns there.
or maybe find OB's educational records and grades????
Maybe they will find some intelligence, a rare resource we can import back to Earth.
Great to see Curiosity start rolling, can't wait to see what we find at Glenelg.
I would love to be in the control room - to see the uncensored footage that we (the people) are not privvy to.
Very Cool. Curiosity is on the move, and the science begins. I hope it has as much luck as Spirit and Opportunity have had. Potentially, its RTG could last for decades; so, if it was built well, it may still be rolling when people finally get around to putting feet on Martian soil a couple of decades from now.
Martians, looking at Curiosity go, "Man, those Earthlings sure do move like Grandma!"
Space exploration, particularly the exploration of other planets, is vital to the development and advancement of humanity. If we are unable to expand beyond the confines of our world, Terra, then our species will be missing out on the opportunities the whole galaxy offers. But then again, for that to work our species would need to be united in a single, imperialist society. But it would definitely be worth it.
Wow.....I feel like Ren meeting Stimpy; 'You're just like me, you like (think) the same things that I DO!'
Want some Hope?
There's some UN Treaties, dealing with the exploitation of Lunar Resources, that the US has never ratified, because they would require us to SHARE EVERYTHING through a distribution program that, when such reasource begin to become available, is to be set up by the UN, to ensure that everyone gets their share - which could be said to sound sort-of like a 'global, imperialist' kind of situation, OR it could also be said to 'sound' rather like the 'Internationalist Socialist' situation that has prevented 'McCarthys Children' (John Bolton!) from throwing the US lot in with so many of the Good Things that the UN has tried to do over the years.
Now, however, the US navy is backing a new UN Administered 'Law of the Sea' that will treat resources in International Waters the same way that the Lunar Treaty would - and they're doing it because of the Chinese incursions into International and Filipino Waters!!!
While that's a powder keg ready to explode, Good Old Ying and Yang always come along togther, and, so, here we have an Abrupt About Face on Foreign Policy Position that could easilly be parlayed into just such a Vision as the one you (and I, and so many others) embrace!
2.5 billion $ turtle on wheels.
Remember, this is just the first tryout, to limber up the wheels. Eventually this thing will go for miles and miles and miles ... on the surface of another planet tens of millions of miles away.
Don't bother, Alan......they just want to blame everything on everyone, especially the President, and with the notable of exception of George W. Bush, because they're Ignorant, Beer Hall Putsch Garbage.
Unlike von Braun, they still don't believe that "Horst Wiessel Lied", you see!!!
.....and gettng Taller, all the time.
Gee, still.......don't just wish you cry out, "To HELL with 4.6 Meters!" while pushing the little Red Button labeled 'Ramming Speed'!!!
Death-mo-rover!
Oh we are so obviously trying very hard not to intimidate another race of people (the Martians) with our speed and highly technologically advanced machinery!
I can just see it now a little green guy with the, I have a dream speech! About how all the different colored peoples of the earth Ethnically cleansed all the green people thousands of years ago and the blue people before that! And because Black White Brown and Yellow Peoples Named the entire planet! And this is the reason they should fear us! (Because we only allow Earth Tone Colored People NO Bright Colors!
("Don't trust Earthy" Will be the Martian call to arms!)
No I didn't forget Red, I just decided I would try not to piss off every one on the planet all at once!
Oh and i am also pritty sure the "Red People" would like to see us all leave TOO!
It looks Like some kind of refitted repurposed space JUNK! "Wally"!
Nice hats off to Bradbury.
Earlier, I wasn't suggesting that we exploit extraterrestrial resources, but I do have to point out that our world is becoming overpopulated, so we need to spread out. We could use the vast quantity of resources on other planets to support space exploration and colonisation, but not too much.
And if there is another debate about racial purity or anything to do with racial difference, then put those comments on there. Don't bring it into a discussion about space exploration - it just complicates everything.
I'm just asking, but does this website have any such debates on there?
It is a shame, if we had not set manned space as our top priority for over 6 decades, we could have had dozens of these mobile laboratories roaming all eight (12?) corners of Mars. We could have had telemetry and other sensors on all major asteroids. Supercollider build here at home and at least a decade ago. We could have discovered the Higgs boson long before CERN and maybe even some hints of super symmetry, enough work for thousands of little physicists.
You get the message, the list is very long and we would have been better served by real science instead of training human beings to act like monkeys.
C'mon NASA, let's see a mobile submersible laboratory on Europa in the next decade.
I concur about more Mars missions, but not about eliminating manned spaceflight.
As excited as the public gets about rovers, humans in space still are the big draw. And all that robotic work on Mars is eventually leading to humans going to and colonizing Mars. It's a long trip, and we will need experience living and working in microgravity, and dealing with the medical issues of such a trip, else its a one-way trip and no one wants that.
Moon First, Mars Second.
There is no reason we should not have a permanent presence on Luna already.
Agreed Tony.