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NASA's rover Curiosity lands on Mars

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:25:03 +0100

(CNN) -- NASA's $2.6 billion rover, Curiosity, carried out a challenging landing on Mars early Monday after traveling hundreds of millions of miles through space in order to explore the Red Planet.

The SUV-sized Curiosity made its dramatic arrival on Martian terrain in a spectacle popularly known as the "seven minutes of terror."

This jaw-dropping landing process, involving a sky crane and the world's largest supersonic parachute, allowed the spacecraft carrying Curiosity to target the landing area that scientists had meticulously chosen.

The mission control in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California burst into cheers as the rover touched down. Team members hugged and high-fived one another as Curiosity beamed back the first pictures from the planet, some shed tears.

The first image from the Curiosity rover features its shadow on the surface of Mars.

"Rationally I know it was supposed to work all along, but emotionally it always seemed completely crazy," said James Wray, assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, who is affiliated with the Curiosity science team of Curiosity. "So to see all those steps being ticked off and actually working, it's a huge relief."

The spacecraft had been traveling away from Earth since November 26 on a journey of approximately 352 million miles (567 million kilometers), according to NASA.

The vehicle, which will be controlled from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has a full suite of sophisticated tools for exploring Mars. They include 17 cameras, a laser that can survey the composition of rocks from a distance and instruments that can analyze samples from soil or rocks.

The aim of its work is "to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms," NASA says.

Meet a rover driver: His car is on Mars

If all goes according to plan, Curiosity's first stop will be Gale Crater, which may have once contained a lake. After at least a year, the rover will arrive at Mount Sharp, in the center of the crater. The rover will drive up the mountain examining layers of sediment. This process is like looking at a historical record because each layer represents an era of the planet's history, scientists say.

Mars, NASA's most ambitious mission Mars in pop culture The Number: "Curiosity" Mars landing Bill Nye and the 'PB&J' of space

The phenomenon of sedimentary layers is remarkably similar to what is seen on Earth, in California's Death Valley or in Montana's Glacier National Park, says John Grotzinger, chief scientist of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

Rocks and minerals found on Earth are different than on Mars, but the idea of a mountain made of layers is familiar to scientists. Unlike on Earth, however, Mars has no plate tectonics, so the Martian layers are flat and not disrupted as they would be on Earth. That also means that Mount Sharp was formed in a different way than how mountains are created on Earth -- no one knows how.

Images: Exploring Mars

In these layers, scientists are looking for organic molecules, which are necessary to create life. But even if Curiosity finds them, that's not proof that life existed -- after all, these molecules are found in bus exhaust and meteorites, too, says Steve Squyres, part of the Mars Science Laboratory science team.

If there aren't any organics, that may suggest there's something on the planet destroying these molecules, said Wray, of Georgia Tech. But if Curiosity detects them, Wray said, that might help scientists move from asking, "Was Mars ever habitable?" to "Did Mars actually host life?"

Curiosity's mission is also significant in an era when NASA's budgets are shrinking and China is becoming more ambitious in its space exploration program.

"I feel like it's a signal that we have the capability to do big and exciting things in the future." said Carol Paty, assistant professor at Georgia Tech's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. "You can't not be excited."

Liquid water is not something scientists expect to be apparent on Mars because the planet is so cold and dry, Squyres said. If the planet does harbor liquid water today, it would have to be deep below the surface, perhaps peeking out in a few special places, but not likely to be seen by Curiosity, Squyres said.

Rover to search for clues to life on Mars

It's hard to know how long ago liquid water would have been there because there's no mechanism to date the rocks that rovers find on Mars, Squyres said.

Evidence from the spacecraft NASA has sent to Mars so far suggests that the "warm and wet" period on Mars lasted for the first billion years of the planet's history.

"In order to create life, you need both the right environmental conditions -- which includes liquid water -- and you need the building blocks from which life is built, which includes organics," Squyres said. The Mars Science Laboratory is a precursor mission to sharper technology that could do life detection, Grotzinger said.

There aren't specific molecules that scientists are looking for with Curiosity. The attitude is: "Let's go to an interesting place with good tools and find out what's there," Squyres said.

What do you think about the Mars mission? Go to iReport

Curiosity is supposed to last for two years on Mars, but it may operate longer -- after all, Spirit and Opportunity, which arrived on Mars in 2004, were each only supposed to last 90 Martian days. Spirit stopped communicating with NASA in 2010 after getting stuck in sand, and Opportunity is still going.

"You take what Mars gives you," said Squyres, also the lead scientist on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, which includes Spirit and Opportunity. "If we knew what we were going to find, it wouldn't be this much fun."

Another fan photo from last night

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:13:54 +0100

Another photo of Justin and his family at Disneyland earlier today.

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:12:33 +0100

JB Phone Cases

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:10:00 +0100

The Summer of 2012 -- Too Hot to Handle?

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:05:44 +0100

August 3, 2012: This past June more than 170 all-time US heat records were tied or broken--many of them originally set in the historically hotter months of July and August. And with a drought plaguing much of the country, the ground is as dry and crispy as a saltine cracker.

By early July, 56% of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing drought. That's the largest percentage in the 12-year record of the U.S. Drought Monitor. Fires scorched over 1.3 million acres across the US in June, reducing hundreds of homes to ashes in the West.

Just imagining prospects for the rest of the summer is enough to bring sweat to your brow. And last winter is partly to blame.

"799 daytime heat records were broken in the first five days of January in the US," says Jake Crouch, a climate scientist from the NOAA National Climatic Data Center. "Last year's was the fourth warmest winter since 1895. And it was dry, with a dearth of snowfall in many places. During most of this past winter and spring, a positive North Atlantic Oscillation pressure pattern kept the jet stream further north and the US warmer and drier than normal."

With little moisture in the soil to evaporate and dissipate some of the sun's energy, more solar radiation is converted to sensible heat, he says.

Of course global warming is on the tips of many tongues.

"CO₂ is up from 280 parts per million in the 19th century atmosphere to 400 parts per million now -- a 43% increase," says NASA climatologist Bill Patzert. "We're emitting six times more carbon from fossil fuel use now than we did 50 years ago. Atmospheric CO₂ hasn't been this high in 400,000 years."

Greenhouse gasses like CO₂ and methane have higher heat capacities than many other gasses, causing the atmosphere to retain more heat.

"The atmosphere becomes a heat source itself, radiating heat back onto the Earth. 85 to 90% of that heat is absorbed by the oceans, because water has a high heat capacity. So the oceans expand and rise. Global sea levels have risen 8 inches over the past 130 years, and the average surface temperature of the entire earth (land surface temperatures plus ocean temperatures) has increased 1.6 °F. These facts," he asserts, "are unequivocal proof of global warming."

But is the record-setting summer 2012 evidence of climate change?

Previous heat waves in the 1930s contributed to the "dust bowl" phenomenon. In this picture, a dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas, in 1935. Credit: NOAA George E. Marsh Album

"Not necessarily," says Patzert. "We've always had extreme weather. US history is written in great natural calamities -- tornadoes, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, floods. Global warming is happening, but it would be irresponsible to say that this heat wave and all these broken records are due to global warming from human causes. It's just not that simple."

John Christy, a scientist from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, agrees: "Heat waves are a natural part of the climate system, and while the recent heat wave was remarkable, it was not as intense as others in the past."

He offers a few examples of past heat waves and droughts.

"The central US suffered several heat waves in the 1930s -- the dust bowl years -- when more statewide, all-time record high temperatures were set than in any other decade. And the western US experienced decades-long droughts in the 12th century. So dry were mountain areas that we can still see near-hundred-year-old trees standing upright in the bottom of alpine lakes where they grew on dry ground 900 years ago.¹This shows that in the 12th century it was so dry and hot that the lakes dried up and allowed trees to grow over a significant period before moisture finally returned."

Patzert and Christy are on opposite sides of the global warming debate. Patzert firmly believes that Earth is warming up and humans are the main reason why. Christy, on the other hand, argues that natural climate variations are almost solely to blame. Yet they both agree that the summer 2012 weather might be just that – weather. They also both believe that improvement is needed in models indicating effects of human and other factors on weather and climate.

"Today's climate models are extremely sophisticated, constantly improving, and will be crucial to charting our future -- but they aren't perfect," says Patzert.

One component that needs improvement: clouds.

"Clouds play a key role in climate because they affect the amount of sunlight reflected and absorbed," says Christy. "We need higher resolution models to portray them more accurately. The distance between grid measurement points in current models is too great to capture meter to meter variations in clouds, land cover, and other variables that affect climate."

One more point of agreement: the summer of 2012 is too hot to handle.

Curiosity's First Daredevil Stunt

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:04:28 +0100

August 2, 2012: When Curiosity enters the Martian atmosphere on August 6th, setting in motion "the seven minutes of terror" that people around the world have anticipated since launch a year ago, the intrepid rover will actually be performing the mission's second daredevil stunt.

The first was completed in July.

For the past nine months, Curiosity has been acting as a stunt double for astronauts, exposing itself to the same cosmic radiation humans would experience following the same route to Mars¹.

"Curiosity has been hit by five major flares and solar particle events in the Earth-Mars expanse," says Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "The rover is safe, and it has been beaming back invaluable data."

Curiosity traveled to Mars in the belly of a space capsule akin to human-crewed capsules. Unlike previous Mars rovers, Curiosity is equipped with an instrument that measures space radiation. The Radiation Assessment Detector, nicknamed "RAD," counts cosmic rays, neutrons, protons and other particles over a wide range of biologically-interesting energies. RADs prime mission is to investigate the radiation environment on the surface of Mars, but NASA turned it on during the cruise phase so that it could sense radiation en route to Mars as well.

Curiosity’s location inside the spacecraft is key to the experiment.

"Curiosity is riding to Mars in the belly of the spacecraft, similar to where an astronaut would be," explains Hassler, RAD's principal investigator. "This means the rover absorbs deep-space radiation storms the same way a real astronaut would."

Even supercomputers have trouble calculating exactly what happens when high-energy cosmic rays and solar energetic particles hit the walls of a spacecraft. One particle hits another; fragments fly; the fragments themselves crash into other molecules.

"It’s very complicated. Curiosity has given us a chance to measure what happens in a real-life situation"

RAD charged particle flux observations during ~7 months of cruise included contributions from 5 solar energetic particle events. The inset compares the particle flux observed by RAD to that observed by instruments on the ACE spacecraft. The MSL spacecraft structure (backshell, heatshield, etc.) provided significant shielding from deep space radiation, significantly reducing the particle flux compared to ACE.

Hassler says the walls of the Mars Science Lab spacecraft have performed as expected: Only the strongest radiation storms have made it inside. Moreover, charged particles penetrating the hull have been slowed down and fragmented by their interaction with the spacecraft's metal skin.

"It's not only the walls that matter, however," he points out. "The spacecraft's hydrazine tanks and other components contribute some protection, too."

Data from Curiosity will help sort out how different subsystems block and respond to cosmic rays and solar radiation. This is information designers of human-crewed spacecraft urgently need to know. "We plan to publish results in a refereed journal later this year," says Hassler.

RAD was turned off July 13th in preparation for landing. Mission controllers will turn it on again after Curiosity sets down in Gale crater. Then researchers will learn what radiation awaits astronauts on the surface of Mars itself.

"No one has ever before measured this kind of radiation from the surface of another planet." Says Hassler, "we’re just getting started."

NASA Curiosity Mars Rover Landing

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 05:57:23 +0100

Best Haircut of the JPL Mission Control Team

Dan Wootton: Why Twitter is going mad for Olympic star Tom Daley

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 05:51:53 +0100

HERO: TOM DALEY

After the sort of year he's had to endure, the fact Tom Daley made an Olympic final, let alone coming an impressive fourth, was a remarkable feat.

Our diving heartthrob has shown maturity way beyond his 18 years, especially when dealing with a vile Twitter troll after his final earlier this week.

When this certain user (who I will not name because he's got far far too much attention already) suggested he had let down his late dad, who tragically died of cancer little more than a year ago, he decided to publicly call him out.

At that point Tom Daley's Twitter army, which even includes his celebrity crush Cheryl Cole, came out fighting.

In the end he was the social networking gold medal winner. Having started the week with 350,000 Twitter followers, Tom Daley ended up with nearly a million.

We'll all be there supporting him when he competes for a medal in his individual event next week.

VILLAIN: FRANKIE BOYLE

On a similar theme, I can't think of anything lower than attacking one of Team GB's top Olympic athletes before they compete about the way they look.

Comedian Frankie Boyle said of star swimmer Rebecca Adlington on his Twitter page: 'I worry that Rebecca Adlington will have an unfair advantage in the swimming by possessing a dolphin's face.'

A completely unnecessary low blow. Take some time out on the naughty step please Frankie.

One Direction's Harry Styles leaves London club with stunning teen model Cara Delevingne

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 05:44:00 +0100

Singer Harry Styles parties with blonde stunner

Harry Styles has been spotted out with stunning model Cara Delevingne.

The One Direction singer likes a cougar and last year romanced Caroline Flack and DJ Lucy Horobin, but Burberry model Cara is only one year older than the 18-year-old hottie.

Harry and Cara, 19, met at Mayfair club Le Baron earlier this summer and have now been snapped together in the singer's Range Rover leaving the exclusive Olympic VIP club at Omega House in London's West End.

'Lots of people saw them leaving together but they didn't care,' a source tells The Sun. 'They only had eyes for each other.'

Cara's older sister Poppy, 25, might be a bit miffed as she fancies Harry, gushing to Grazia. 'I want to sit on Harry Styles' lap.

'I have a total crush on him. He walked past me at the Aquascutum show recently and I was salivating. I like his curly hair and he looks like a little cherub.'

No fighting, girls. We're sure Harry would be delighted to show you both his 4 nipples.

'I think I must have been a twin, but then the other one went away and left its nipples behind,' he explained after becoming a global star with 1D.

'Stripping off is very liberating. I feel so free.

'I think you could safely say I'm not shy.'

Conor Maynard: I cried on my mum's shoulder after my girlfriend dumped me on MSN Messenger

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 05:41:38 +0100

Can't Say No singer suffered teen heartbreak

Conor Maynard has revealed that his first girlfriend dumped him on MSN Messenger.

The pop star, who recently stormed the charts with debut single Can't Say No, admits that he turned to his mum for support.

‘When I was 13, I remember crying on my mum's shoulder when my first girlfriend dumped me via MSN Messenger,' says Conor, 19.

‘That was cold.'

The teen singer has since recovered from his heartbreak and now has his eye on another new music star.

‘Rita Ora sings on my new album - she's pretty hot,' Conor tells You magazine.

‘I'm single at the moment; any interested girls must like Nando's - and playing with my hair.'