It has been nearly two years since my last post. With fb, twitter, Buzz, Google Plus, I have posting around here and there! I have got back to India after three long years in the US and am slowly settling down in the garden city.
It is NASA's MSL that aroused my "curiosity" and kept me tracking it off late. The car sized rover took off on Nov 26th 2011 and is expected to get to Mars sometime in August of 2012 and make a landing on Gale crater. The rover has around 10 experimental instruments within it. They are primarily aimed at answering questions such as water on mars, microbial life, life sustenance etc. There's a host of experiments that the rover is expected to perform.
The project budgeted at $2.5 bn was initially slotted for 2009 and after budget cuts and schedule slippages made it in 2011(Thanks to Obama). The nuclear powered cells are of virtually infinite life. With Phoenix and Oppurtunity exceeding their life by way long, Curiosity would be expected to achieve new feats. Oppurtunity is in fact still alive and is currently exploring endeavour crater. The scientists at JPL have planned an entirely new kind of landing strategy for the MSL. This youtube video is a fanastic animation.
I guess I'll have to eagerly wait for the next 8 months to see those high-res panoramic shots. The official mission page has a nice timer and is located here.
