NASA Hosts Oct. 4 Teleconference About Mars Curiosity Rover Progress

Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington                   

202-358-1726

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

 

DC Agle/Guy Webster

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011/818-354-6278

agle@jpl.nasa.gov / guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a media teleconference at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) Thursday, Oct. 4, to provide a status update on the Curiosity rover's mission to Mars' Gale Crater.

Curiosity, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, is 56 days into a two-year mission to investigate whether conditions may have been favorable for microbial life.

For teleconference dial-in information, reporters must send their name, media affiliation and telephone number to Elena Mejia at elena.mejia@jpl.nasa.gov or call the Media Relations Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at 818-354-5011.

Audio and visuals of the event will be streamed live online at http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio, and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl.

Visuals will be available at the start of the event at http://go.nasa.gov/curiositytelecon.

For information about NASA's Curiosity mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mars, and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

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Open For Business: NASA Seeks Small Business Proposals for High Tech R&D

David E. Steitz

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1730

david.steitz@nasa.gov

WASHINGTON -- NASA is seeking proposals for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs that will create the new technologies needed to enable the agency's future missions while benefiting America.

The SBIR and STTR Programs are designed to provide small businesses and nonprofit research institutions with opportunities to compete for federal research and development awards and to stimulate the commercialization of the resulting technology. The programs address specific technology gaps in NASA missions, while striving to complement other agency research investments. Program results have benefited many NASA efforts, ranging from modern air traffic control systems, Earth-observing spacecraft and the International Space Station to Curiosity now roving the Red Planet.

"Space technology is the linchpin that joins together NASA's science, aeronautic and exploration goals, providing the essential new knowledge and capabilities that enables our present and future missions," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program. "The annual solicitation for the SBIR and STTR programs embodies our desire to generate innovative ideas to address NASA's future mission needs by offering a broad collection of research and development needs and opportunities."

This year's call includes a new component to NASA's SBIR Program. NASA has added seven select topics in SBIR, representing unique space technology development challenges the agency believes are well suited to the innovation and problem-solving abilities of America's small businesses. By complementing its own efforts with these seven areas, NASA is hoping to improve on an already great program that benefits the agency and America's new technology economy.

The highly competitive SBIR and STTR programs are based on a three-phase award system. Phase 1 is a feasibility study to evaluate the scientific and technical merit of an idea. Firms successfully completing Phase 1 are eligible to submit Phase 2 proposals, expanding on the results of Phase 1. Phase 3 includes commercialization of the results of Phase 2, and requires the use of private sector or non-SBIR federal funding as innovations move from the laboratory to the marketplace.

The deadline for the two program solicitations is Nov. 29. Selections are expected to be announced in late February 2013. NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., manages the SBIR and STTR programs for the agency's Space Technology Program. NASA's 10 field centers manage individual projects.

For more information about NASA's SBIR and STTR solicitations, including how to apply, visit http://sbir.nasa.gov.

NASA's Space Technology Program is dedicated to innovating, developing, testing, and flying hardware for use in NASA's future science and exploration missions. NASA's technology investments provide cutting-edge solutions for our nation's future. For more information about NASA's Space Technology Program, visit http://www.nasa.gov/oct.

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Mars Rover Curiosity Arm Tests Nearly Complete

Dwayne Brown / Steve Cole

Headquarters, Washington

202-358-1726 / 202-358-0918

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

 

Guy Webster / D.C. Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-5011

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov / agle@jpl.nasa.gov

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Curiosity team is almost finished robotic arm tests in preparation for the rover to touch and examine its first Martian rock.

Tests with the 7-foot (2.1-meter) arm have allowed the mission team to gain confidence in the arm's precise maneuvering in Martian temperature and gravity conditions. During these activities, Curiosity has remained at a site it reached by its most recent drive on Sept. 5. The team will resume driving the rover this week and use its cameras to seek the first rock to touch with instruments on the arm.

"We're about to drive some more and try to find the right rock to begin doing contact science with the arm," said Jennifer Trosper, Curiosity mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Two science instruments -- a camera called Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) that can take close-up, color images and a tool called Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) that determines the elemental composition of a target rock -- have passed preparatory tests at the rover's current location. The instruments are mounted on a turret at the end of the arm and can be placed in contact with target rocks.

Curiosity's Canadian-made APXS had taken atmospheric readings earlier, but its first use on a solid target on Mars was this week on a calibration target brought from Earth. X-ray detectors work best cold, but even the daytime APXS tests produced clean data for identifying elements in the target.

"The spectrum peaks are so narrow, we're getting excellent resolution, just as good as we saw in tests on Earth under ideal conditions," said APXS principal investigator Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. "The good news is that we can now make high-resolution measurements even at high noon to support quick decisions about whether a sample is worthwhile for further investigations."

The adjustable-focus MAHLI camera this week has produced sharp images of objects near and far, "Honestly, seeing those images with Curiosity's wheels in the foreground and Mount Sharp in the background simply make me cry," said MAHLI principal investigator Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "I know we're just getting started, but it's already been an incredible journey."

MAHLI is also aiding evaluation of the arm's ability to position its tools and instruments. Curiosity moved the arm to predetermined "teach points" Sept. 11, including points above each of three inlet ports where it will later drop samples of soil and powdered rock into analytical instruments inside the rover. Images from the MAHLI camera confirmed the placements. Photos taken before and after opening the inlet cover for the chemistry and mineralogy (CheMin) analytical instrument also confirmed good operation of the cover.

"Seeing that inlet cover open heightens our anticipation of getting the first solid sample into CheMin in the coming weeks," said CheMin principal investigator David Blake of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

A test last week that checked X-rays passing through an empty sample cell in CheMin worked well. It confirmed the instrument beneath the inlet opening is ready to start analyzing soil and rock samples.

Curiosity is five weeks into a 2-year prime mission on Mars. It will use 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

For more about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl.

You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity.

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NASA Orbiter Observations Point to 'Dry Ice' Snowfall on Mars

Dwayne Brown

Headquarters, Washington        

202-358-1726

dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

 

Guy Webster

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-354-6278

guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data have given scientists the clearest evidence yet of carbon dioxide snowfalls on Mars. This reveals the only known example of carbon dioxide snow falling anywhere in our solar system.

Frozen carbon dioxide, better known as "dry ice," requires temperatures of about minus 193 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 125 Celsius), which is much colder than needed for freezing water. Carbon dioxide snow reminds scientists that although some parts of Mars may look quite Earth-like, the Red Planet is very different. The report is being published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

"These are the first definitive detections of carbon dioxide snow clouds," said the report's lead author Paul Hayne of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "We firmly establish the clouds are composed of carbon dioxide -- flakes of Martian air -- and they are thick enough to result in snowfall accumulation at the surface."

The snow falls occurred from clouds around the Red Planet's south pole in winter. The presence of carbon dioxide ice in Mars' seasonal and residual southern polar caps has been known for decades. Also, NASA's Phoenix Lander mission in 2008 observed falling water-ice snow on northern Mars.

Hayne and six co-authors analyzed data gained by looking at clouds straight overhead and sideways with the Mars Climate Sounder, one of six instruments on MRO. This instrument records brightness in nine wavebands of visible and infrared light as a way to examine particles and gases in the Martian atmosphere.

The data provide information about temperatures, particle sizes and their concentrations. The new analysis is based on data from observations in the south polar region during southern Mars winter in 2006-2007, identifying a tall carbon dioxide cloud about 300 miles (500 kilometers) in diameter persisting over the pole and smaller, shorter-lived, lower-altitude carbon dioxide ice clouds at latitudes from 70 to 80 degrees south.

"One line of evidence for snow is that the carbon dioxide ice particles in the clouds are large enough to fall to the ground during the lifespan of the clouds," co-author David Kass of JPL said. "Another comes from observations when the instrument is pointed toward the horizon, instead of down at the surface. The infrared spectra signature of the clouds viewed from this angle is clearly carbon dioxide ice particles and they extend to the surface. By observing this way, the Mars Climate Sounder is able to distinguish the particles in the atmosphere from the dry ice on the surface."

Mars' south polar residual ice cap is the only place on Mars where frozen carbon dioxide persists on the surface year-round. Just how the carbon dioxide from Mars' atmosphere gets deposited has been in question. It is unclear whether it occurs as snow or by freezing out at ground level as frost. These results show snowfall is especially vigorous on top of the residual cap.

"The finding of snowfall could mean that the type of deposition -- snow or frost -- is somehow linked to the year-to-year preservation of the residual cap," Hayne said.

JPL provided the Mars Climate Sounder instrument and manages the MRO Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more information about MRO, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mro.

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Wheels and a Destination

This view of the three left wheels of NASA's Mars rover Curiosity combines two images that were taken by the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) during the 34th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (Sept. 9, 2012). In the distance is the lower slope of Mount Sharp.

The camera is located in the turret of tools at the end of Curiosity's robotic arm. The Sol 34 imaging by MAHLI was part of a week-long set of activities for characterizing the movement of the arm in Mars conditions.

The main purpose of Curiosity's MAHLI camera is to acquire close-up, high-resolution views of rocks and soil at the rover's Gale Crater field site. The camera is capable of focusing on any target at distances of about 0.8 inch (2.1 centimeters) to infinity, providing versatility for other uses, such as views of the rover itself from different angles.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems