In three days (Aug 5, 2012) NASA will commence their much anticipated mission on Mars… perhaps you spotted the inflatable Mars rover at esriuc recently? Pretty darned cool stuff and you get bet that GIS and Geo technology will be playing a crucial role in tracking the rover, gather data, and mapping the surface. So, what’s the plan for Curiosity? Well, as the name implies, the Rover will help to resolve some of our curiosity about the red planet.
Source: google.com via Glenn on Pinterest
This from NASA… Curiosity’s main assignment is to investigate whether its study area ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. To do that, it packs a science payload weighing 15 times as much as the science instruments on previous Mars rovers. The landing target, an area about 12 miles by 4 miles (20 kilometers by 7 kilometers), sits in a safely flat area between less-safe slopes of the rim of Gale Crater and the crater’s central peak, informally called Mount Sharp.
The target was plotted to be within driving distance of layers on Mount Sharp, where minerals that formed in water have been seen from orbit.
For more information about the mission is available at:
- http://www.nasa.gov/mars
- and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/
- You can follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
- and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity