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Monday, August 13, 2012

Curiosity Rover


'Curiosity Rover' was launched from Cape Canaveral on Nov 26, 2011 aboard the Mars Science Laboratory(MSL)Spacecraft and successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on Aug 06, 2012.

 


MSL was launched  via the Atlas V 541  provided by United Launch Alliance . This 2 stage Rocket  includes a 3.8 m (12 ft)Common Core Booster  (CCB) powered by a single RD-180  engine, 4 Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB), and one Centaur III  with a 5.4 m (18 ft) diameter payload fairing. The NASA Launch Services Program coordinated the launch.                                     
 



Curiosity was set down on the Martian surface using a new high-accuracy entry, descent, and landing (EDL) system.The entry-descent-landing (EDL) system differs from those used for other missions in that it does not require an interactive, ground-generated mission plan. During the entire landing phase, the vehicle acts autonomously, based on pre-loaded software and parameters.
                                        

                                                                         





The final landing place for the rover was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from its target after a 563,000,000 km (350,000,000 mi) journey.

Curiosity is powered by a Radoisotope Thermoelectric Generator(RTG), like the successful Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars landers in 1976.


The MSL mission has 4 main scientific goals -
 investigation of the Martian climate
 investigation of the Martian geology
 investigation of whether Mars could have ever supported life, including investigation of the role of water and
 investigation of the Martian planetary habitability 

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