Main content
Course: NASA > Unit 3
Lesson 4: Curiosity rover: discoveries- Curiosity has landed
- Curiosity descent
- Systems check
- Curiosity's first drive
- Navigation update
- Observations
- Discovery: Streambed
- First CheMin results
- Preparation for holidays
- Calcium-rich deposits found
- Results of first drilling
- Mars' bygone atmosphere
- 'Spring Break' over: commanding resumes
- Rover ready to switch gears
- Trek to Mt. Sharp begins
- Dating younger rocks
- Curiosity completes its first martian year
- A softer trek to mount sharp
- A taste of mount sharp
© 2024 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Preparation for holidays
11 sols of activities are uploaded for the holidays. Created by NASA.
Want to join the conversation?
- Are there no satellites that we have to decrease the two week window they were talking about where we won't have contact with curiosity? Like say a satellite at a different point in orbit around the sun to relay communications?(4 votes)
- I'm not sure, but I think it just might not be worth it to build and launch another expensive satellite just to work for longer.(3 votes)
- I think this question should've probably been asked a long time ago, but does Curiosity run on batteries? If so, shouldn't once it run out of energy and stop making observations?(1 vote)
- Curiosity runs on solar energy from the Sun. It has several plates of solar panels that open up. Batteries and gasoline would run out making it hard to refule or charge.(1 vote)
- is there any plants or water there(1 vote)
- Mar's atmosphere does not really allow surface water to exist for very long but there do appear to be underground aquifers of water.(3 votes)
- what year did curiosity lunched(1 vote)
- But couldn't they use the two satellites already? And use them to reflect data around the sun an to earth in 7 minutes? :/(1 vote)
- Well maybe, they couldn't... Here's why- Those two satellites would have other functions to perform. And also the satellites may not have the required powerful transmitters to send data from the other side of the Solar system. Also, if they were used, to substitute their function, other satellites would have to be deployed. And all of this would be done only to monitor Curiosity for an extra 2 weeks! So I think that is the reason why they didn't do it... Hope you found this useful! Cheers :-)(1 vote)
- If the Sun puts itself between Mars and Earth,why can`t the singal go around the sun or though the sun?(1 vote)
- The signal takes the shortest path from point a to b.SInce the shortest distance is through the sun itself,it doesn't go around it.
NOTE:it is possible to bend it due to the sun's gravity as prescribed by Einstein,but it may not be useful(1 vote)
- How long are they gonna continue using the Curiosity Rover cause it is cool?.(0 votes)
- Why was it called Yellowknife bay? is it similar to Yellowknife on earth?(0 votes)
- How long are they gonna continue using the Curiosity Rover cause it is cool?.(0 votes)
- why are you still asking robert tonks you don't need to ask so much times!(0 votes)
Video transcript
Hi, I am Colette Lohr, tactical uplink lead
on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, and this is your Curiosity Rover Report.
Recently, the rover drove by an outcrop called "Shaler," where we used Curiosity's Chemistry
and Camera, or ChemCam instrument, and Mast Camera to look at the rock's composition and
observe its layering. Then from Shaler, we drove another 50 meters
or so and we descended roughly half a meter into a location called Yellow Knife Bay, making
science observations along the way. The team is now searching in earnest for a
suitable rock for our first drill activity after the Holidays. This has been an exciting
time for the team, because we’ve started to do what we call, “discovery-driven planning,”
and this is when we, in a sense, hand over the rover keys to the science team.
In the early part of any mission, much of what the rover does is pre-scripted, as we
kind of perform checkouts and do first-time activities.
But in recent sols, or Martian days, the science team has really had more freedom to send the
rover where the science takes them. These days, the team is busy preparing to
preload the rover with 11 sols of activity over the course of 2 Earth days, and this
is going to allow us to spend the holidays with our friends and families.
This capability will come in handy when we experience solar conjunction coming up in
April. This is where the Sun positions itself between the Earth and Mars, and it’s going
to interrupt our ability to communicate with Curiosity for upwards of two weeks.
Curiosity is expected to drive another 30 meters to a location the team has informally
dubbed as "Grandma's House." That’s where she’ll spend the holidays acquiring a 360-degree
panorama from within Yellow Knife Bay. A small team will still be working during this
period to monitor Curiosity's health. On behalf of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission,
we wish you all a very happy holiday and look forward to many new adventures with Curiosity
in the New Year!