Comments on: Curiosity Mars rover: Five surprising facts

By: PastorEdward Rivera

PastorEdward Rivera — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 16:20:14 +0000

el gobierno se gasto un monton de millones en esa porqueria, simplemente para descubrir si habia vida en ese planeta

By: Samuel J Ward

Samuel J Ward — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 00:06:07 +0000

So cool

By: John Edwards

John Edwards — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:24:56 +0000

Solar power is unreliable on Mars because constant dust storms tend to block the solar panels on the rovers with settling dust. Sometimes they get lucky and a particularly strong wind will clean them off enough, but dust cover is generally the death knell of solar powered hardware on Mars.

Also, keep in mind that the surface atmospheric pressure on Mars is some 0.63% of that of Earth's (Yes, less than one percent). So, while a mild gust will blow dust around here on Earth, it takes a far more potent atmospheric condition on Mars to generate enough oomph to blow a solar panel dust-free.

By: Max Gelber

Max Gelber — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:16:46 +0000

I’d have been pretty concerned if that was their first priority. But like I said, my “for the good of science!” priorities are pretty skewed to the relatively unimportant.

By: gigawatt6

gigawatt6 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:50:10 +0000

“Due to the unreliability of solar power”… Is the Sun running out of fuel? NASA consided alternate power sources to increase the area on Mars that might be studied, opening up the whole planet to exploration. The rover is only expected to travel a total distance of between 3 to 12 miles from its landing site during the entire duration of its mission? Is the space crane going to rebuild itself after the crash landing a lift the rover after 23 months to another planet mission?

By: neneazap

neneazap — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:34:15 +0000

They still weren’t able to take color photos of the Moon, so I don’t think they can take color photos of Mars.

By: fgoodwin

fgoodwin — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:41:16 +0000

Curiosity DOES have color cameras aboard.

But its communications capacity is limited by onboard power and the relative geometry of the relay satellites, plus color transmissions take much longer over teh slow data link than B&W.

It will eventually send color pictures but those were not the first priority.

By: tobyww

tobyww — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:13:45 +0000

…. since Curiosity will only be on Mars for 23 months

then where is it going????

23 months is the planned mission duration

Opportunity’s 90 day mission is now 8 years ongoing

By: Ben Stewart

Ben Stewart — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:27:07 +0000

I think they meant 2.5 billion dollars in the 1st point. Space is n’t cheap, the computer part is the most interesting part besides the vaporising laser.

By: Ben Stewart

Ben Stewart — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:27:06 +0000

I think they meant 2.5 billion dollars in the 1st point. Space is n’t cheap, the computer part is the most interesting part besides the vaporising laser.

By: Sridevi Voleti

Sridevi Voleti — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 07:10:05 +0000

Hope it finds something to take back in pride worth all this effort! is Eva round the corner?

By: Frédéric Hauté

Frédéric Hauté — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:26:20 +0000

wasn’t is 2.5 billion $ ?????

By: Johannes de Doper

Johannes de Doper — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:40:42 +0000

go pro? :D

By: Justin Howley Suzanne Burdett

Justin Howley Suzanne Burdett — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 03:05:09 +0000

Wall-e’s naked!

By: Max Gelber

Max Gelber — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:25:54 +0000

I will accept the fact that the thing moves at probably 3x the pace of a drunken snail, but why exactly have we been unable to equip these rovers with color camera sensors yet? I'd like to see our future alien overlords captured properly. But that could just be me.

I was never a great science student, so obviously the image quality is my first priority.

By: Muni R Hussain

Muni R Hussain — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:51:05 +0000

Looks like jonny 5 from ere from short circuit LOL

By: Andrew Thomas D'Ambrosia

Andrew Thomas D'Ambrosia — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 00:27:07 +0000

wheres the decepticon ? ….

By: Samuel J Ward

Samuel J Ward — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:36:06 +0000

So cool

By: LadyTha ProducHer

LadyTha ProducHer — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:36:06 +0000

Sooo so cool!

By: Hoge Wojciech

Hoge Wojciech — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 23:36:06 +0000

Wall-e