11 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do

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11 Amazing Things NASA's Huge Mars Rover Can Do

Posted by samzenpus on Monday November 21, 2011 @05:53AM from the rover-4.0 dept.

TheNextCorner writes "NASA is getting set to launch its next Mars rover this week. The car-size Curiosity rover is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, slated to blast off Saturday (Nov. 26) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover will employ 10 different science instruments to help it answer questions once it touches down on the Red Planet in August 2012."

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Can it convert by Oswald+McWeany · 2011-11-21 05:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Can it convert imperial measurements to metric measurements?

--
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Re:No terraforming? by Oswald+McWeany · 2011-11-21 06:03 · Score: 5, Interesting

Sure it can... it will just take a few billion years.
One misplaced micro-organism and it could set off evolution on mars that will slowly terraform the planet over the next few billion years.

--
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Re:#1 by SJHillman · 2011-11-21 06:15 · Score: 5, Funny

We're only putting them on robots because we ran out of sharks. Once we run out of robots, then I suppose we'll start putting them on lawyers.
Re:#0 by anwaya · 2011-11-21 06:35 · Score: 5, Informative

The landing strategy is quite spectacular, though unfortunately no-one's going to be there to observe it.
Late Breaking News from the Council: CONVERT! by Tackhead · 2011-11-21 06:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Can it convert imperial measurements to metric measurements?

Dispelling rumors of the threat posed by a nuclear-powered, laser-armed robotic invader, K'Breel, Speaker for the Council of Elders, said:

Already one invader flails haplessly in low orbit, while its successor sits on the pad, its launch delayed for yet another four days.
The denizens of the Evil Blue Planet call them by many names - Newtons, Pounds - but what the blueworlders fail to understand that the only force that can do meaningful work is a unified force. Our strength is their weakness: we are one species, we live on one world, we use one system of measurement. We are one force. A red planet, united, to never be divided!
Current intelligence reports suggests that denizens of the Evil Blue Planet have taken note of our effective planetary defense, but seem unaware of the extent to which their activities have made us angry. We are not hurt; we are angry. Very, very angry indeed.

Having been reminded that the gelsacs of many metrication consultants were punctured to bring them this information, there were no questions from the press corps.
It needs swarmbots. by blair1q · 2011-11-21 06:49 · Score: 5, Interesting

It should have a cargo-hold full of Wall-E type devices that can scatter during the day and return home to charge at night.
Give more than one scientist at a time a chance to drive.
(And reduce the risk of total mission failure in case of a Walowitz incident.)
Re:If I had say in the matter. . . by mmustapic · 2011-11-21 07:48 · Score: 5, Insightful

Why do you suppose it doesn't have redundancy or failback mechanisms? For example, it has SIX wheels. The Spirit rover could still work (and did) with only four wheels. Also, the whole rover is a complex laboratory capable of doing many experiments. If one of them fails, it can still do science with the others. Adding a secondary mast, computer, etc, adds weight besides redundancy.