NASA's Mars Rover Sets Up Direct Link With Earth
18:30 09/08/2012 MOSCOW, August 9 (RIA Novosti) - Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars on Monday, has successfully pointed its high-gain antenna toward Earth and gathered first data on surface radiation and temperature, NASA reported on its website.
Until now, transmissions from the rover were carried out via NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet.
The spacecraft provided on Thursday new data sent from the surfaced rover, including deck pan images of the rover taken by its navigation cameras and images of the Martian surface next to the rover.
Judging by the spectacular imagery and data sent by Curiosity, the Gale Crater where the rover landed “resembles the Mojave Desert in California,” and its temperature is apparently “a bit warmer than originally predicted,” NASA said.
Curiosity, the biggest and the most scientifically complex Mars rover, will gradually turn on its scientific equipment to carry out geological and geo-chemical research, to study the planet’s atmosphere and climate, and to search for water and organic substances for the next 23 months.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
