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CURIOSITY: Big Mars Rover for Big Mars Science!

CURIOSITY: Big Mars Rover for Big Mars Science!. Artist ’ s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech. NASA ’ s Mars Rover Curiosity launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA/JPL-Caltech. Curiosity launched on an Atlas V-541, the largest rocket for launching to a planet.

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CURIOSITY: Big Mars Rover for Big Mars Science!

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  1. CURIOSITY: Big Mars Rover for Big Mars Science! Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  2. NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  3. Curiosity launched on an Atlas V-541, the largest rocket for launching to a planet. It is propelled toward Mars by a Centaur upper stage. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  4. Curiosity is headed to Gale Crater. You can see where other Mars landers and rovers have successfully landed on Mars too. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  5. Gale Crater is about 96 miles wide. It has many rock layers for Curiosity to explore, from canyons to channels, all in one place! NASA/JPL-Caltech

  6. Curiosity is targeted to land within the yellow ellipse, on flat terrain near Gale’s central mound. Central Mound NASAJPL-Caltech/ASU/UA

  7. Curiosity is twice the size of Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity and five times as heavy. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  8. To fit all these tools on the rover, the team had to supersize everything, from the capsule that holds the rover, to the parachute that slows it down before landing. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  9. To get to Mars, Curiosity will travel safely tucked inside a protective shell. Cruise Stage Back Shell Descent Stage Rover Heat Shield NASAJPL-Caltech

  10. The trip will take over eight months.The rover will travel about 354 million miles (570 million kilometers). Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  11. Sky Crane Detail Altitude: ~20 m Velocity: ~0.75 m/s Time: Entry + ~413 s CruiseStageSeparation Time: Entry – 10 min CBMDSeparation Time: Entry – ~8 min Altitude: ~125 km Velocity: ~5,900 m/s Time: Entry + 0 s Entry Interface Altitude: 0 m Velocity: ~0.75 m/s Time: Entry + ~427 s Peak Heating Peak Deceleration Rover Separation Parachute Deploy Radar Data Collection Mobility Deploy Hypersonic Aero-maneuvering Flyaway Altitude: ~11 km Velocity: ~405 m/s Time: Entry + ~265 s Heatshield Separation Altitude: ~1.6 km Velocity: ~80 m/s Time: Entry + ~375 s Backshell Separation Touchdown Altitude: ~8 km Velocity: ~125 m/s Time: Entry + ~289 s Powered Descent This chart shows the entry, descent and landing sequence Sky Crane Flyaway NASAJPL-Caltech

  12. The spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere 78 miles above the planet. The rover will take approximately seven minutes to reach the ground. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  13. This spacecraft can steer its way through the turbulent atmosphere so it can land more accurately. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  14. The friction of the atmosphere slows the spacecraft from 13,000 mph to about 900 mph. The heat shield may reach 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit! Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  15. A supersonic parachute slows the spacecraft from about 900 mph to 180 mph, the speed of a Formula One race car. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  16. While slowing down using the parachute, the heat shield is popped off, exposing the rover to the Martian atmosphere. The rover’s descent camera begins taking a movie of the remaining five-mile flight to the ground. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  17. The engines on the descent stage roar to life and fly the rover down the last mile to the surface. As it descends, the rover uses radar to measure its speed and altitude, which it uses to land safely. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  18. The descent stage lowers the rover on three nylon ropes called bridle. Coiled electronics and communications cables also unspool from the descent stage. This configuration is known as the “Sky Crane.” Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  19. By the time Curiosity touches down, the rover is going about two miles per hour. Less than seven minutes before, it was traveling at 13,000 miles per hour! Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  20. When the sky crane “senses” that Curiosity has touched down, the cables are cut. The sky crane flies a safe distance away from the rover before crash-landing. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  21. For the first time, a Mars rover will land with wheels touching down first, instead of airbags. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  22. Curiosity will start exploring Mars after raising its “head” and doing a “self-check” to make sure all systems are go. Driving could take several days to a few weeks after landing. Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech

  23. Curiosity is expected to work for one Martian year, or about two Earth years. Don’t miss the adventure on Mars, beginning August 2012! Artist’s Concept. NASAJ/PL-Caltech

  24. Follow Curiosity! Mission Website: mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl Twitter: @MarsCuriosity Be A Martian! beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov/msl

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