Aug 13 2012
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-149 PRESIDENT OBAMA TO CALL NASA CURIOSITY MARS ROVER TEAM TODAY
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will congratulate members of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., at 11 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. PDT) this morning. Audio of the call and video of the JPL team's portion of the call will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website. President Obama's call comes a week after Curiosity landed on the Red Planet. Curiosity carries the most advanced science payload ever used on Mars' surface. During the next 2 years, it will use its 10 instruments to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life. Curiosity was designed, developed and assembled at JPL, which also is where the rover's mission control is located.
MEDIA ADVISORY: M12-151 NASA HOSTS TELECONFERENCE ABOUT CURIOSITY ROVER PROGRESS
WASHINGTON -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT), Aug. 14, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater. The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at 1:31 a.m. EDT, Aug. 6 (10:31 p.m. PDT, Aug. 5). Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., spent last week beginning initial checks of Curiosity's 10 instruments and updating software for its two-year mission to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and preserving clues in the rocks about possible past life.
RELEASE: 12-277 NASA ANNOUNCES NEXT OPPORTUNITY FOR CUBESAT SPACE MISSIONS
WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking proposals for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets planned to launch between 2013 and 2016. These miniature spacecraft, known as CubeSats, could be auxiliary payloads on previously planned missions. CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. These cube-shaped satellites are approximately four inches long, have a volume of about one quart and weigh less than three pounds. Proposed CubeSat investigations must be consistent with NASA's Strategic Plan and the NASA education vision and goals. The research must address aspects of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations. Applicants must submit proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov. 12. NASA will select the payloads by Jan. 31, 2013. Selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. The selected spacecraft will be eligible for flight after final negotiations when a launch opportunity arises. NASA will not provide funding for the development of the small satellites. NASA recently announced the results from the third round of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. From the first three launch initiatives, 64 payloads made the short list for launch opportunities between 2011 and 2014. They are eligible for launch pending an appropriate opportunity and final negotiations. The satellites come from 25 states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia.
RELEASE: 12-279 NASA MARS ROVER TEAM HEARS FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA
PASADENA, Calif. -- President Barack Obama this morning told the flight control team for NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, "You made us all proud." Obama telephoned the mission control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., to congratulate JPL Director Charles Elachi and the Mars Science Laboratory team operating the rover, which landed on Mars a week ago. "What you've accomplished embodies the American spirit," the president said. "Our expectation is that Curiosity is going to be telling us things we did not know before and laying the groundwork for an even more audacious undertaking in the future, and that's a human mission to Mars." Obama said Curiosity's landing advances his goals of improving education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. "This is the kind of thing that inspires kids across the country," he said. "They're telling their moms and dads they want to be part of a Mars mission, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars." Elachi thanked Obama for the call and added, "Hopefully we inspire some of the millions of young people who were watching the landing." Obama noted, "You guys should be remarkably proud. Really what makes us best as a species is this curiosity we have -- this yearning to discover and know more and push the boundaries of knowledge." The rover team has completed three of the four days of activities needed for transitioning Curiosity's two main computers to a version of software suited for the rover's work on the surface of Mars. The surface work will include driving and using tools on a robotic arm. During landing, and the first few days after landing, the spacecraft's computers used a version of flight software loaded with landing-day capabilities that no longer are needed. "After the software transition, we go back to preparing the rover to be fully functional for surface operations," Curiosity mission manager Art Thompson said. "We are looking forward to a first drive in about a week." The first short drive will be part of a few weeks of initial checkouts and observations to assess equipment on the rover and characteristics of the landing site. Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking rocks' elemental composition from a distance. Curiosity will use a drill and scoop located at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into the rover's analytical laboratory instruments. To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site at 4.59 degrees south, 137.44 degrees east, places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.
