- Nuclear-powered Mars rover, Curiosity, is expected to open up a new arm of red planet research. Credit: NASA/JPL
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory is named Curiosity.
And if you are curious about where Curiosity is going to land on the red planet, stay tuned.
The final decision on a landing site will be announced late this month or early July by NASA headquarters.
As of right now, there are the final four sites, each representing an exciting science target:
— Eberswalde crater contains a delta with phyllosilicates — clay-like minerals that preserve a record of long-term contact with water – thus, a potentially habitable environment that is particularly favorable to the preservation of organic materials.
— Gale crater offers access to diverse rock strata, including interbedded sulfates and phyllosilicates in a three mile (5 kilometer) high mound that reflects deposition during changing environmental conditions.
— Holden crater contains finely layered phyllosilicates that are deposited in a standing body of water – thought to be a lake.
— Mawrth Vallis exposes an ancient preserved layered stratigraphic section of terrain that provides an opportunity to characterize early wetter conditions back to roughly the first billion years of Mars history, known as the Noachian era.
Meanwhile, testing of the nuclear-powered rover continues at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Those tests will wrap up in time for shipping the rover to NASA Kennedy Space Center this month.
Once Curiosity is on site, testing and other launch preparations will continue there. The launch period for the Mars Science Laboratory is Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011, with landing on Mars in August 2012.
By Leonard David
