Tag Archives: mars rover
NASA sidelines its next Mars Rover mission indefinitely
LEGO Mars Curiosity Rover Lands on New Year’s Day
Here’s a new year’s gift from LEGO that fans will appreciate. Start off 2014 with bricks, not a bang! This super sweet NASA Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover launches on New Year’s Day. Prepare to spend the day building it in your LEGO lair.
This 295-piece set was originally a design put up on the LEGO Cuusoo site as a fan-generated idea. What made this one stand out was that its designer was a mechanical engineer. That engineer was Stephen Pakbaz, who worked on the actual Curiosity. So he knows what he is doing. In other words, you won’t find a better version.
He has been working with LEGO ever since his design was accepted, making this version as close to the real thing as possible. The LEGO Curiosity Rover will retail for only $29.99(USD) in the LEGO Shoe when it launches on New Year’s Day.
[Collectspace via Nerd Approved]
Sisters Build Their Own Mars Rover
Two North California sisters, inspired by a documentary, decided to make a Mars Rover by themselves with help from their dad Robert Beatty. Now, 13-year-old Camille Beatty’s and 11-year-old Genevieve’s remote-controlled replica of the Mars Spirit rover is being exhibited at the New York Hall of Science. Great job kids.
These two sisters have been tinkering with remote-controlled toys for awhile. They are a real dynamic duo and have made around 15 robots. They know what they are doing. Visitors of the exhibit can drive the rover on a simulated Martian surface and search for light-emitting rocks using the rover’s infrared camera, sonar sensors, thermal array sensor and other cool gizmos.
The point behind the project was to get kids interested in science. Well, this is one that will get both kids and adults interested in science.
[Beatty Robotics via Damn Geeky]
Curiosity Rover Dress: Mars Needs Women
Space exploration has never been so sexy. This Mars Curiosity rover dress definitely makes me curious to explore her surface. I kid. No, really I have always wanted to explore the Martian landscape. Just not as much as I do now.
This awesome Curiosity inspired dress comes from textile artist Holly Renee of Shenova who makes dresses printed with images from Mars as well as other science-y subject matter. The dress is made with stretch Lycra and cotton, and just so you know, the belt is sold separately ladies. The images are from the Mars Curiosity rover of course. She’s also got dresses, shirts and leggings made from the pattern of the Mars rover’s wheels:
If you are female and a space enthusiast, one of these should be your next fashion purchase.
[via io9 via Boing Boing via Neatorama]
Curiosity rover drills into Martian rock, looks for more evidence of water
NASA scientists won't have to wait until InSight's 2016 drilling mission to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars -- Curiosity is already on the case. After developing a taste for Martian soil late last year, the intrepid rover has started exploring the red planet's bedrock, drilling a 0.63 inch (1.6 cm) wide hole 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) deep into Mars' surface. Curiosity will spend the next several days analyzing the resulting powder in hopes of finding evidence of a once-wet planet. The shallow hole marks the first drilling operation ever carried out on Mars, and getting there wasn't easy. "Building a tool to interact forcefully with unpredictable rocks on Mars required an ambitious development and testing program," explained Louise Jandura, the chief engineer of the rover's sample system. "To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth." The Rover tested its drill by creating a shallower hole earlier this month, though samples will only be used from the second, deeper cavity. Check out the source link for more images of the operation, including an animated GIF of the drill in action.
Filed under: Misc, Transportation
Via: Bloomberg
Source: NASA
The Year of 2012 in LEGO
Every year, and 2012 is no different, looks much better when it is presented by LEGO recreations of people skydiving from space or Russian punk rockers getting jailed for speaking their mind.
Felix BaumgartnerSkydiving from space? Why not. Baumgartner set a world record by jumping from 24 miles above the Earth, ...
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Gingerbread Mars Rover: Candy Curiosity
I think we just made a huge discovery. Mars is made out of candy. It’s also apparently in a parallel universe where it is flat and in someone’s house, next to their stairs.
This geeky cake was made by Kevin Isacsson, head chef of the Athaneum, Caltech’s fancy private dining club in Pasadena. I guess that means you have to be a big deal to even lay eyes on this thing in person. Well, I don’t want to be a member of any place that wouldn’t have me. Please, please let me in! I promise not to touch it – especially not with my tongue!
This edible Mars Rover features pinwheel cookie wheels connected with black licorice, sugared LEGO “gears” and gumdrop and M&M “buttons.” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab even loaned Isacsson a model of Curiosity to help him get all of the details right. It took him about 10 days to finish. If you look closely, you’ll see one detail that the actual Curiosity hasn’t discovered yet – Martians.
[via That's Nerdalicious]
NASA’s Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of ‘vigorous’ water flow
Curiosity may have spent a while limbering up for the mission ahead, but now it's found evidence of an ancient streambed on Mars that once had "vigorous" water flow. Photos of two rock outcroppings taken by the rover's mast camera between the north rim of Gale Crater and the foot of Mount Sharp reveal gravel embedded into a layer of conglomerate rock. The shape of the small stones indicate to NASA JPL scientists that they were previously moved, and their size (think from grains of sand to golf balls) are a telltale sign that water did the work instead of wind. Evidence of H2O on Mars has been spotted before, but this is the first direct look at the composition of riverbeds NASA has observed from above.
According to Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich, it's estimated that water flowed at the site anywhere from thousands to millions of years ago, moved at a clip of roughly 3 feet per second and was somewhere between ankle and hip deep. "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment," Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger said. "It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment."
NASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flow originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | CommentsCuriosity rover starts light robotic arm workout in preparation for scientific main event
As NASA promised, Curiosity has stopped at the quarter pole toward its first scientific destination to test its robotic arm and attached scientific instruments. After 100 yards of driving, the rover extended its 7-foot limb, and will now spend six to ten days checking its predetermined positions and range of motion. That will ensure the appendage is ready after surviving the chilly vaccuum of space and subsequent setdown, and will let its minders see how it functions in the unfamiliar Martian gravity and temperatures. The JPL scientists in charge of the six-wheeler will also peep the Mars Hand Lens Imager and made-in-Canada Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer to warrant that they're up for all the geology to come. If all goes well, the rover will start scooping, drilling and analyzing in earnest when it hits Glenelg, then Mount Sharp -- so, we'd limber up first before tackling all that, too.
Curiosity rover starts light robotic arm workout in preparation for scientific main event originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Sep 2012 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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