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Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory)

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Curiosity is the next-generation Mars rover, scheduled to rocket toward Mars between November 25 and December 18, 2011, landing between August 6 and 20, 2012. Twice as long and four times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers, Curiosity (also known as Mars Science Laboratory or "MSL") is being sent to Mars to determine whether its landing site was ever "habitable" -- that is, whether it ever had environmental conditions that could have supported microbial life. Curiosity is currently scheduled to launch between October and December of 2011 and arrive on Mars in summer 2012. Its landing site has not yet been selected but is the topic of active debate among the Mars science community. Curiosity will operate on the surface of Mars for at least one Mars year (687 Earth days). It is planned to drive 5 to 20 kilometers (3 to 12 miles) from its landing location.

Unlike Spirit and Opportunity, Curiosity is powered with radioisotope thermal generators, and is thus not limited by the availability of solar power. However, it will still need to reduce activity during the coldest winter months, when more of its power will be required to keep its instruments warm. It also carries a more sophisticated analytical instrument package than Spirit and Opportunity. Curiosity will assess past habitability by searching for and identifying organic compounds, possible metabolic products of ancient organisms, and studying the rocks for details about the past climate in which they formed.

Curiosity carries ten science instruments. What makes the science instrument suite of Curiosity unique are the analytical tools located within the body of the rover, which will perform detailed chemical analyses of about 70 samples of rock and soil delivered to them by the robotic arm. Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) includes a gas chromatograph, mass spectrometer, and tunable laser spectrometer, and is intended to identify organic compounds and also to measure the isotopic ratios of chemical elements important to life. CheMin is an X-ray diffraction X-ray fluorescence instrument, which directly measures the bulk elemental composition of rocks and soils, allowing scientists to infer mineral composition.

On the robotic arm, Curiosity has the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), for close examination of the fabrics of rocks and soil. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) will measure the abundance of elements in rocks and soils, presumably helping to select the best samples to deliver to CheMin.

On a mast, like the Mars Exploration Rovers and Phoenix, Curiosity has a stereo, color camera (MastCam) for remote sensing, but with a unique capability: it can capture high-definition movie sequences. Also on the mast is ChemCam, which uses a laser to zap rocks from up to 10 meters (30 feet) away, and then examines the atoms excited by the laser beam.

Three instruments will study the current environment around the rover. The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) will characterize the radiation environment, a measurement critical to the planning of future human exploration of Mars. Spain is providing a meteorological suite, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), which will measure pressure, temperature, humidity, wind speeds, and ultraviolet radiation. And Russia is providing the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument, to measure the abundance of subsurface hydrogen up to a meter below the surface, which might identify water (present either as ice or bound in minerals).

One camera, MARDI, will be used during descent to establish context for the landing location, capturing high-definition video.

Curiosity was originally planned to launch in October 2009. On December 4, 2008, NASA announced that the launch would not take place until late in 2011. Visit The Planetary Society Blog for more information on the delay.