Members Can Post Anonymously On This Site
-
Similar Topics
-
By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 4 min read
Sols 4331-4333: Today’s Rover ABC – Aurora, Backwards Driving, and Chemistry, with a Side of Images
This image shows just how variable and interesting the terrain is in the area that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is currently investigating. Curiosity captured this long-distance Remote Micro Imager (RMI) image using the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) aboard the rover on sol 4329 — Martian day 4,329 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Oct. 10, 2024 at 02:30:12 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 11, 2024
This blogger is in the United Kingdom, just north of London, where we yesterday had beautiful night skies with a red aurora that was even visible with the unaided eye, and looked stunning on photographs. That reminded me of the solar storm that made it all the way to Mars earlier this year. Here is my colleague Deborah’s blog about it: “Aurora Watch on Mars.” And, of course, that was a great opportunity to do atmospheric science and prepare for future crewed missions, to assess radiation that future astronauts might encounter. You can read about it in the article, “NASA Watches Mars Light Up During Epic Solar Storm.” But now, back from shiny red night skies north of London, and auroras on Mars six months ago, to today’s planning!
Power — always a negotiation! Today, I was the Science Operations Working Group chair, the one who has to watch for the more technical side of things, such as the question if all the activities will fit into the plan. Today there were many imaging ideas to capture the stunning landscape in detail with Mastcam and very close close-ups with the long-distance imaging capability of ChemCam (RMI). Overall, we have two long-distance RMIs in the plan to capture the details of the ridge we are investigating. You can see in the accompanying image an example from last sol of just how many stunning details we can see. I so want to go and pick up that smooth white-ish looking rock to find out if it is just the light that makes it so bright, or if the surface is different from the underside… but that’s just me, a mineralogist by training, used to wandering around a field site! Do you notice the different patterns — textures as we call them in geology — on the rocks to the left of that white-ish rock and the right of it? So much stunning detail, and we are getting two more RMI observations of 10 frames each in today’s plan! In addition there are more than 80 Mastcam frames planned. Lots of images to learn from!
Chemistry is also featuring in the plan. The rover is stable on its wheels, which means we can get the arm out and do an APXS measurement on the target “Midnight Lake,” which MAHLI also images. The LIBS investigations are seconding the APXS investigation on Midnight Lake, and add another target to the plan, “Pyramidal Pinnacle.” On the third sol there is an AEGIS, the LIBS measurement where the rover picks its own target before we here on Earth even see where it is! Power was especially tight today, because the CheMin team does some housekeeping, in particular looking at empty cells in preparation for the next drill. The atmosphere team adds many investigations to look out for dust devils and the dustiness of the atmosphere, and APXS measures the argon content of the atmosphere. This is a measure for the seasonal changes of the atmosphere, as argon is an inert gas that does not react with other components of the atmosphere. It is only controlled by the temperature in various places of the planet — mainly the poles. DAN continues to monitor water in the subsurface, and RAD — prominently featured during the solar storm I was talking about earlier — continues to collect data on the radiation environment.
Let’s close with a fun fact from planning today: During one of the meetings, the rover drivers were asked, “Are you driving backwards again?” … and the answer was yes! The reason: We need to make sure that in this rugged terrain, with its many interesting walls (interesting for the geologists!), the antenna can still see Earth when we want to send the plan. So the drive on sol 4332 is all backwards. I am glad we have hazard cameras on the front and the back of the vehicle!
Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 13, 2024 Related Terms
Blogs Explore More
3 min read Sols 4329-4330: Continuing Downhill
Article
2 days ago
3 min read Sols 4327-4328: On the Road Again
Article
4 days ago
3 min read Sols 4325-4326: (Not Quite) Dipping Our Toes in the Sand
Article
6 days ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…
View the full article
-
By NASA
Curiosity Navigation Curiosity Home Mission Overview Where is Curiosity? Mission Updates Science Overview Instruments Highlights Exploration Goals News and Features Multimedia Curiosity Raw Images Images Videos Audio More Resources Mars Missions Mars Sample Return Mars Perseverance Rover Mars Curiosity Rover MAVEN Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Mars Odyssey More Mars Missions The Solar System The Sun Mercury Venus Earth The Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune Pluto & Dwarf Planets Asteroids, Comets & Meteors The Kuiper Belt The Oort Cloud 3 min read
Sols 4325-4326: (Not Quite) Dipping Our Toes in the Sand
NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured this image using its Left Navigation Camera on Sol 4323 — Martian day 4,323 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Oct. 4, 2024, at 00:29:40 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 4, 2024
If you read this blog very often, you know that nearly every time the rover stops for science, MAHLI and APXS focus on interesting (and accessible!) rocks as targets. The rover science team is, after all, built with a lot of geologists. But geology is not all rocks, all the time — sand is former rock that if buried and pressurized long enough will become rock again. Today was time for sand to shine, as the workspace was cut by troughs of sand of different colors and brightnesses, and it had been nearly 500 sols since we acquired our last dedicated sand measurement with APXS and MAHLI. The “Pumice Flat” target was one of the brighter sand patches while “Kidney Lake” was one of the darker sand patches. APXS uses a special placement mode over sand targets so the instrument gets close, but not too close, to the loose material which could foul up the instrument. Not-rock was also the purview of our environmental observations. Navcam is scheduled for imaging seeking out clouds and dust devils, and changes in the sand and dust on top of the rover deck. Both Navcam and Mastcam will make observations to measure the amount of dust in the atmosphere. REMS will keep track of our weather with regular measurements, RAD will monitor our radiation environment, and DAN will look through rock for signs of water beneath our drive path.
Unsurprisingly, the rest of the rover could not ignore bedrock. We managed to squeeze in DRT cleaning of a nice bedrock slab, “Ribbon Fall,” for MAHLI-only imaging. In places, the bedrock slabs were cut by thin veins of darker gray material, similar to dark gray materials we saw in the bedrock on the other side of Gediz Vallis. ChemCam targeted one of these dark gray examples at “Black Divide,” and also rastered across some of the prominent layers visible in the vertical faces in the workspace at the aptly named “Profile View.”
Our imaging efforts could be roughly divided between looking back at our path through Gediz Vallis from our new and higher perspective, and looking ahead to what awaits us. ChemCam planned RMI mosaics back toward a field of the white stones we spent time studying in Gediz Vallis and toward a part of the edge of Gediz Vallis that we did not explore previously. Mastcam looked back at the part of the edge of Gediz Vallis we just traversed, “Pilot Peak,” for clues as to why it sits higher than the bedrock farther from the channel edge. They also targeted “Clyde Spires,” which was a gravel ridge in Gediz Vallis of interest as we drove by it initially. Looking ahead, Mastcam imaged a puzzling gray rock sitting atop the bedrock slabs south of us at target “Buena Vista Grove,” and further south still, they planned a large mosaic covering a very big rock — the spectacular “Texoli” butte that has loomed and will continue to loom over our path for months to come.
Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 07, 2024 Related Terms
Blogs Explore More
2 min read Perseverance Matters
It is an important and exciting juncture in Mars exploration and astrobiology. This year, the…
Article
5 hours ago
2 min read Sols 4323-4324: Surfin’ Our Way out of the Channel
Article
4 days ago
2 min read Sols 4321-4322: Sailing Out of Gediz Vallis
Article
5 days ago
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun, and the seventh largest. It’s the only planet we know of inhabited…
All Mars Resources
Explore this collection of Mars images, videos, resources, PDFs, and toolkits. Discover valuable content designed to inform, educate, and inspire,…
Rover Basics
Each robotic explorer sent to the Red Planet has its own unique capabilities driven by science. Many attributes of a…
Mars Exploration: Science Goals
The key to understanding the past, present or future potential for life on Mars can be found in NASA’s four…
View the full article
-
By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA MSFC HERC is the annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges – held its concluding event April 19 and April 20, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.NASA NASA has selected 75 student teams to begin an engineering design challenge to build rovers that will compete next spring at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The competition is one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, encouraging students to pursue degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Recognized as NASA’s leading international student challenge, the 31st annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) aims to put competitors in the mindset of NASA’s Artemis campaign as they pitch an engineering design for a lunar terrain vehicle which simulates astronauts piloting a vehicle, exploring the lunar surface while overcoming various obstacles.
Participating teams represent 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations from around the world. The 31st annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) is scheduled to begin on April 11, 2025. The challenge is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at NASA Marshall.
Following a 2024 competition that garnered international attention, NASA expanded the challenge to include a remote-control division, Remote-Operated Vehicular Research, and invited middle school students to participate. The 2025 HERC Handbook includes guidelines for the new remote-control division and updates for the human-powered division.
NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges reflects the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration.
More than 1,000 students with 72 teams from around the world participated in the 2024 challenge as HERC celebrated its 30th anniversary as a NASA competition. Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about HERC, please visit:
HERC Website Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Oct 04, 2024 EditorBeth RidgewayLocationMarshall Space Flight Center Related Terms
Marshall Space Flight Center Explore More
20 min read The Marshall Star for October 2, 2024
Article 2 days ago 29 min read The Marshall Star for September 25, 2024
Article 1 week ago 3 min read NASA Michoud Continues Work on Evolved Stage of SLS Rocket for Future Artemis Missions
Article 1 week ago Keep Exploring Discover Related Topics
NASA Student Launch Challenge
Middle/high school and college-level student teams design, build, test, and launch a high-powered rocket carrying a scientific or engineering payload.
NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge
Teams of high school and college students design, develop, build, and test human-powered rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain.
NASA STEM Opportunities and Activities For Students
Marshall Space Flight Center
View the full article
-
By European Space Agency
Video: 00:01:00 Rover trials in a quarry in the UK showing a four-wheeled rover, known as Codi, using its robotic arm and a powerful computer vision system to pick up sample tubes.
The rover drives to the samples with an accuracy of 10cm, constantly mapping the terrain. Codi uses its arm and four cameras to locate the sample tube, retrieve it and safely store it on the rover – all of it without human intervention. At every stop, the rover uses stereo cameras to build up a 180-degree map of the surroundings and plan its next maneouvres. Once parked, the camera on top of the mast detects the tube and estimates its position with respect to the rover. The robotic arm initiates a complex choreography to move closer to the sample, fetch it and store it.
The sample tubes are a replica of the hermetically sealed samples inside which NASA’s Perseverance rover is collecting precious martian soil inside. To most people on Earth, they resemble lightsabres.
The reddish terrain, although not fully representative of Mars in terms of soil composition, has plenty of slopes and rocks of different sizes, similar to what a rover might encounter on the martian surface. Quarry testing is an essential next step in the development process, providing a unique and dynamic landscape that cannot be replicated indoors.
ESA continues to run further research using the rover to maintain and develop rover capabilities in Europe.
Read the full article: Rovers, lightsabres and a piglet.
View the full article
-
By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
The cover of the HERC 2025 handbook, which is now available online. By Wayne Smith
Following a 2024 competition that garnered international attention, NASA is expanding its Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) to include a remote control division and inviting middle school students to participate.
The 31st annual competition is scheduled for April 11-12, 2025, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. HERC is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. The HERC 2025 Handbook has been released, with guidelines for the new remote control (RC) division – ROVR (Remote-Operated Vehicular Research) – and detailing updates for the human-powered division.
“Our RC division significantly lowers the barrier to entry for schools who don’t have access to manufacturing facilities, have less funding, or who are motivated to compete but don’t have the technical mentorship required to design and manufacture a safe human-powered rover,” said Chris Joren, HERC technical coordinator. “We are also opening up HERC to middle school students for the first time. The RC division is inherently safer and less physically intensive, so we invite middle school teams and organizations to submit a proposal to be a part of HERC 2025.”
Another change for 2025 is the removal of task sites on the course for the human-powered rover division, allowing teams to focus on their rover’s design. Recognized as NASA’s leading international student challenge, the 2025 challenge aims to put competitors in the mindset of the Artemis campaign as they pitch an engineering design for a lunar terrain vehicle – they are astronauts piloting a vehicle, exploring the lunar surface while overcoming various obstacles.
“The HERC team wanted to put together a challenge that allows students to gain 21st century skills, workforce readiness skills, and skills that are transferable,” said Vemitra Alexander, HERC activity lead. “The students have opportunities to learn and apply the engineering design process model, gain public speaking skills, participate in community outreach, and learn the art of collaborating with their peers. I am very excited about HERC’s growth and the impact it has on the students we serve nationally and internationally.”
Students interested in designing, developing, building, and testing rovers for Moon and Mars exploration are invited to submit their proposals to NASA through Sept. 19.
More than 1,000 students with 72 teams from around the world participated in the 2024 challenge as HERC celebrated its 30th anniversary as a NASA competition. Participating teams represented 42 colleges and universities and 30 high schools from 24 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 13 other nations from around the world.
“We saw a massive jump in recognition, not only from within the agency as NASA Chief Technologist A.C. Charania attended the event, but with several of our international teams meeting dignitaries and ambassadors from their home countries to cheer them on,” Joren said. “The most impressive thing will always be the dedication and resilience of the students and their mentors. No matter what gets thrown at these students, they still roll up to the start line singing songs and waving flags.”
HERC is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which seeks to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated in HERC – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about HERC, please visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html
Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
Share
Details
Last Updated Aug 28, 2024 Related Terms
Marshall Space Flight Center Explore More
3 min read NASA, Boeing Optimizing Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay for Future SLS Stage Production
Article 1 day ago 5 min read Cassiopeia A, Then the Cosmos: 25 Years of Chandra X-ray Science
Article 2 days ago 29 min read The Marshall Star for August 21, 2024
Article 7 days ago Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
View the full article
-
-
Check out these Videos
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.