PSW 2318 Curiosity's Robotic Exploration of Mars' Gale Crater | John Grotzinger

Описание: Friday, May 5, 2013
John P. Grotzinger
Fletcher Jones Professor of Geology, Chief Mission Scientist, Mars Science Laboratory, AKA "Curiosity"

The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, touched down on the surface of Mars on August 5, 2012. It was built to conduct an investigation of modern and ancient environments. Recent mission results will be discussed. Curiosity has a lifetime of at least one Mars year (~23 months) and drive capability of at least 20 km. The MSL science payload was specifically assembled to assess habitability and includes a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer and gas analyzer that will search for organic carbon in rocks, regolith fines, and the atmosphere, an x-ray diffractometer that will determine mineralogical diversity, focusable cameras that can image landscapes and rock/regolith textures in natural color, an alpha-particle x-ray spectrometer for in situ determination of rock and soil chemistry, a laser-induced breakdown spectrometer to remotely sense the chemical composition of rocks and minerals, an active neutron spectrometer designed to search for water in rocks/regolith, a weather station to measure modern-day environmental variables, and a sensor designed for continuous monitoring of background solar and cosmic radiation.