The Mars Curiosity Rover is back to work after a two-day stand-down in so-called “safe mode,” according to a press release late yesterday from NASA.

If you’re reading this on a computer, then you’re probably already familiar with the annoying process of a device entering a precautionary safe mode to prevent the accidental destruction of your data. The engineers have now identified and repaired the software issue that caused the problem.

Mission Manager Jennifer Trosper announced: “We expect to get back to sample-analysis science by the end of the week.”

That’s great news for space fans who are following the mission, which made a historic announcement earlier in the month that the Curiosity rover had found definitive evidence that Mars was once suitable for at least microbial life. The water was found locked in rock in a drill site in Yellowknife Bay, a flat and very dry plain overlooked by 18,000 foot Mount Sharp. A week later, NASA re-affirmed that the rover had found more evidence of hydrated minerals in the same area.

There will be a planned interruption in communications with Curiosity during much of April because the orbit of Mars will put it directly behind the sun from the earth’s viewpoint. NASA has decided to place a moratorium on transmitting messages to the rover during that time to avoid having the commands corrupted by interference from the sun, which is energetic in radio frequencies as well as visible light.

The self-portrait of the Mars Curiosity at the first rock drilling site was taken using its robot arm to snap a series of 66 photographs from different angles to put together a complete mosaic of the scene. Hey, it’s a step up from trying to hold your cell phone at the end of your arm to grab your own photo.

Now it’s back to rock drilling for the Mars Curiosity Rover.

[drill site Mars photos courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/MSSS]
[self portrait of Mars Curiosity rover courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS]

Mars Curiosity Rover Back To Work, NASA Says is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA’s Curiosity rover has found an unusual flower-like formation on the surface of Mars.

However, the space agency has said that the petal-shaped, pearl-colored cluster, which was spotted in an image snapped by Curiosity last month, is highly unlikely to indicate that flowers are blooming on the red planet.

The excitement over the Mars “flower” began when a user on the Above Top Secret forums highlighted an unusual, flower-like object in a snap of the Martian terrain. Alongside the rover’s snap of the “flower”, user Arken wrote:

“This amazing, extremely unusually-looking translucent object on the Martian surface is the second one detected by the Rover Curiosity. [...] The Albedo (or Reflectivity of Sun Light) of this object is very high, and its translucent appearance, the irregular conformation (like [the pistils of a flower]) and the “texture” of its wider areas is smooth, and seem that it is ground attached.”

Other forum users chipped in to suggest that the object may be quartz embedded in the rock, but Arken’s original comparison of the formation to the pistils of a flower seems to have stuck.

Back in October, Curiosity photographed what turned out to be a piece of plastic that had fallen from the rover itself. This latest object appears to be part of the Martian terrain, but NASA spokesperson Guy Webster told the New York Daily News it was unlikely to be a flower:

“[The cluster] appears to be part of the rock. I would guess that the ‘flower’ was someone’s descriptive term for its appearance, not meant as an interpretation that flowers exist on Mars.”

Meanwhile, as the buzz over Martian flowers heated up online, Curiosity spent the holidays gathering enough pictures for a 360-degree panorama of its rocky surroundings at a Martian region known as Yellowknife Bay:

Curiosity Rover Finds ‘Flower’ On Surface Of Mars is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA has snapped its most incredible self-portrait yet of the Curiosity rover on Mars, showing the unit posing with its destination, a Martian mountain.

The new view of Curiosity on Mars is actually a mosaic of dozens of high-definition color photos snapped by the rover between October 31 and November 1. The image shows Curiosity surrounded by its own tracks, with the 3-mile-high Mount Sharp in the distance, according to Space.com.

NASA featured the mosaic portrait as its image of the day December 27 after releasing the photo earlier this month.

Curiosity used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a powerful camera mounted at the end of the rover’s robotic arm. Curiosity turned the camera on itself much like a human tourist might when traveling alone, or most people on Facebook or MySpace, snapping a series of photos that rover technicians then stitched together into a high-definition composite.

The rover moved its robotic arm through more than 50 positions in one day to capture its full car-size body on camera.

NASA scientists used a test version of Curiosity on Earth to practice the photo session. Too bad we can’t get Michael Bay to update the footage from the first Transformers movie, but that’s roving on to a different subject.

Here’s the view from “Grandma’s House,” my home for the solidays (holisols?). Wish you were here!twitpic.com/bnqgeg

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) December 20, 2012

The Mars rover is headed toward a spot near the base of Mount Sharp called Glenelg to perform continuous experiments along the way. The $2.5 billion machine’s primary mission is to determine if its Gale crater landing site could have ever supported primitive microbial life, says Yahoo News.

We have suspected that we aren’t the only life in the universe, and we are determined to prove it.

NASA Snaps Mars Rover Curiosity Self Portrait is a post from: The Inquisitr

Despite his incredible exploits at the edge of space, daredevil Felix Baumgartner is no fan of Mars exploration.

The skydiver made history earlier this month when he broke through the sound barrier after jumping from a balloon floating 24 miles above the Earth. But his efforts outside of our planet apparently seem to end there.

Baumgartner told the London Telegraph that instead of funding a Mars landing, the money would be better spent on environmental protection on Earth:

“[They say] it is so important to land on Mars because we would learn a lot more about our planet here, our Earth, by going to Mars which actually makes no sense to me because we know a lot about Earth and we still treat our planet, which is very fragile, in a really bad way.”

“So I think we should perhaps spend all the money [which is] going to Mars to learn about Earth. I mean, you cannot send people there because it is just too far away. That little knowledge we get from Mars I don’t think it does make sense.”

Baumgartner hit speeds of more than 800 mph during his 128,000 foot descent in becoming the first human to break the sound barrier in free fall.

Fearless Felix also is less-than-enthused about the estimated $2.5 billion price tag for NASA’s Curiosity Rover mission to Mars:

“That is tax money. People should decide ‘are you willing to spend all this money to go to Mars?’ I think the average person on the ground would never spend that amount of money – they have to spend it on something that makes sense and this is definitely saving our planet.”

Do you agree with Felix Baumgartner that exploring outer space is too expensive?

Felix Baumgartner: Mars Mission Is A Waste of Money is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Mars Curiosity Rover’s self portrait is quite possible the coolest self-photo in the galaxy.

The amazing image was created by stitching together 55 different images taken with the Rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).

NASA writes:

“Like a tourist who snaps a photo of himself in front of the Eiffel Tower, NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity has stretched out its arm and captured a high-resolution self-portrait in spectacular surroundings.”

Mars Today reports that the Curiosity Rover’s self portrait was taken at “Rocknest” in the Gale Crater. Mount Sharp appears on the right side of the photo and the northern wall of the Gale Crater in the background.

The photo shows tracks in the dirt as well as a few small holes where the Rover collected samples of Martian soil.

NASA writes that the Rover didn’t take the self-portrait because of vanity. Instead, these photos give researchers a detailed look at the condition of the rover.

NASA writes:

“Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear.”

Here’s the Curiosity Rover’s self portrait.

Curiosity Rover’s Self Portrait Puts All Other Self-Pics To Shame is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover dug up more strange shiny objects on the surface of the Red Planet after it dumped out a scoopful last week.

Mission scientists originally thought that the shiny flakes were from the Curiosity’s landing module, or even from the rover itself, reports Space.com.

Now, however, mission managers stated that the yet-unidentified shiny objects are actually Martian in origin. Curiosity is currently scooping up Mars dirt in an area called “Rocknest,” in preparation to deliver its first samples of Martian rocks to a pair of instruments on its body.

The Mars Curiosity rover scooped its first sample on October 7, but stopped after the shiny object was discovered. NASA officials stated on Monday October 15:

“Other small pieces of bright material in the Rocknest area have been assessed as debris from the spacecraft. The science team did not want to put spacecraft material into the rover’s sample-processing mechanisms.”

The Huffington Post notes, however, that after a new review, rover scientists believe that the material is actually a Mars phenomenon instead of litter from Curiosity. NASA officials stated after the second review:

“Confidence for going ahead with the third scooping was based on new assessment that other bright particles in the area are native Martian material. One factor in that consideration is seeing some bright particles embedded in clods of Martian soil.”

Curiosity’s third scoop of the Red Planet’s dirt will be processed by the Mini Cooper-sized rover’s Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, also known as CheMin. A later sample will be deposited inside the rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, nicknamed “SAM.”

Mars Curiosity Rover Digs Up Unidentified Shiny Objects is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Mars Curiosity rover got distracted today while in the middle of her sand-scooping mission, stopping to investigate a strange shiny object in the sand.

The NASA rover team believes the shiny object may be a piece of the rover, or a previous lander, reports Business Insider. Because of this, they are stopping to investigate because there could be more debris in the sand that could potentially mess up the scooping mission if it gets into the rover’s machinery.

NASA team member Sarah Milkovich tweeted about the object, saying that a similar thing occurred with the 2008 Phoenix Mars Rover. Emily Lakdawalla, a Planetary Science blogger, believes it may be a piece of Kapton tape, which is used on many of the rover’s parts.

NBC News notes that the Curiosity rover’s Twitter account also spoke of the strange shiny object, stating:

“Team spotted bright object on ground near me — possibly a piece of rover hardware? Gathering more data.”

Sarcastic Rover also commented on the find, tweeting, “Did anyone lose an earring on Mars? Because I may have found it. Or else I’m falling apart. But let’s hope earring.”

The object was spotted as the rover was using its scoop to pick up and sift Martian soil from a sandy site called “Rocknest.” Curiosity was supposed to shovel and shake the soil to clear out the sample collection system that is mounted on the rover’s seven-foot-long robotic arm, called CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In-situ Martian Rock Analysis).

The team will instead investigate the strange object to make sure that it won’t pose a problem to Curiosity’s equipment, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The JPL stated in its mission status report:

“Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities.”

Milkovich added that Mars surface probes, like the Curiosity rover, sometimes spot strange objects, like the “bunny ears” and “Martian macaroni” that Opportunity saw. These cases usually turn out to be bits of fabric or metal that were left behind by the rover.

Team spotted bright object on ground near me—possibly a piece of rover hardware? Gathering more data [info] 1.usa.gov/RrwZHG

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) October 8, 2012

Before it was interrupted, the Mars Curiosity rover was able to scoop and sift some sand. Check out the video below to see the rover in action:

Mars Curiosity Rover Checks Out Strange Shiny Objects is a post from: The Inquisitr

There is water on Mars! Well, there used to be. A new discovery by NASA’s Curiosity Rover may prove that water once flowed in large volumes across the red planet.

Space.com reports that the discovery came after the Curiosity took several pictures of martian stones. Some of the stones have rounded edges which, according to NASA, indicates that they were transported long distances by a martian river.

Curiosity science co-investigator Rebecca Williams said:

“The shapes tell you they were transported and the sizes tell you they couldn’t be transported by wind. They were transported by water flow.”

The researchers said that the water flow may have been similar to a flash flood in a desert region on earth.

Curiosity co-investigator William Dietrich, said that scientists have found possible evidence of water on mars before but the new discovery gives them information about how fast and how deep the water was on the red planet.

Dietrich said:

“From the size of gravels it carried, we can interpret the water was moving about 3 feet per second, with a depth somewhere between ankle and hip deep. Plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them. This is the first time we’re actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it.”

NASA posted a photo of the Martian riverbed next to a photo of a riverbed on earth on Facebook. The Curiosity Rover, via NASA, writes: “A River Ran Through It. I found evidence of an ancient streambed on Mars, similar to some on Earth.”

Here’s a video about the new Mars discovery.

New Mars Discovery: Curiosity Rover Finds Evidence Of Water Stream is a post from: The Inquisitr

When no one’s around to snap a photo sometimes you have to hold the camera yourself. NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, which is a few planets away from any living being (we think) turned its camera around to take its first self-portrait on the red planet.

The self-portrait of the Mars Rover wwas taken with its Mars Hand Lens Imager. NASA is currently testing out all of the tools that the Rover is equipped with.

Daniel Limonadi of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, told the Telegraph:

Mars Curiosity Rover Snaps Self-Portrait is a post from: The Inquisitr

What’s the best possible use of a $2.5 billion Mars rover mission? If you’re Will.i.am, you take advantage of Curiosity’s time on Mars to broadcast a new song you wrote to endorse President Barack Obama.

The new single, “Reach For The Stars,” is being broadcast from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California to the Mars rover. The event is set to take place on Tuesday at 4 pm Eastern, and it will be fully viewable via NASA’s livestream.

The song, which was uploaded to YouTube on August 26, has led Will.i.am to travel to NASA’s command center where he will have the chance to watch as his song makes its planetary debut.

This is not the first time Will.i.am has worked with NASA; the space exploration fan has appeared in a NASA promotional film in which he has explained how NASA created technology has helped create clean water, solar electricity for refrigeration, and even better ways to keep food fresh as it travels to market.

While Will.i.am has the distinct honor of being the first artist to have a song broadcast on Mars, he is not the first soundbite to grace the red planet; that honor belongs to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden.

So now, the NASA Curiosity rover has the distinct privilege of adding music streaming to its super high-resolution picture taking and rock blasting laser capabilities.

You can listen to the song here:

Do you think using the Mars Curiosity rovers audio capabilities to broadcast a Will.i.am song is a silly exercise in publicity?

Will.i.am To Debut New Song On Mars Today is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA scientists took the Mars rover Curiosity out for a spin on Wednesday. The rover drove for 16-minutes, completing its first drive since landing on the red planet.

The Curiosity rover is NASA’s first astrobiology initiative since the 1970s Viking probes and will end up costing the space agency at least $2.5 billion. Curiosity landed on Mars’ “Bradbury Landing” on August 6 and spent the last several weeks testing out its built-in systems including a high-powered laser capable of obliterating rocks.

Earlier in the week, NASA scientists had performed a steering test on the one-ton rover, the first time they attempted to drive the vehicle since it landed.  The Mars Curiosity rover is currently located in the Gale Crater, which is located near the planets equator on its southern hemisphere.

The 16 minute trip allowed the Curiosity rover to travel 15 feet, turn 120 degrees, and then back up 8 feet. The drive allowed the rover to position itself by its own scour mark left by its descent engine.

According to project manager Pete Theisinger of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

“It couldn’t be more important. We built a rover, so unless the rover roves, we really haven’t accomplished anything.”

As the rover was driven across martian soil, it sent a continuous stream of data about its capabilities back to NASA scientists. The data collection will provide important information about the Red Planet and the rovers own stability.

In approximately one week, the Mars Curiosity rover will make a longer trek in which it will drive across three different types of terrain.

NASA scientists say the planet’s firm soil is making the driving of the Mars rover easier than previously anticipated.

Mars Curiosity Rover Takes First Successful Drive is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the Curiosity rover on Mars and sending back pictures daily of the Red Planet’s terrain, NASA scientists are turning their focus to taking a detour to check out what they call a “cool” geographic spot.

The Curiosity rover is headed to its destination of Mount Sharp where it will be looking for traces of water, but first it will take off in the opposite direction to a spot the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory calls Glenelg, the AFP reported. NASA officials believe the geologically rich site is the intersection of three different kinds of terrain, an area about 1,640 feet from where the scientists landed the Curiosity rover on Mars.

Glenelg — named as a palindrome because the Curiosity rover will travel back in the same direction again to visit Mount Sharp — is the first trip of moderate length for the craft. The piece of land that the Curiosity rover is exploring on Mars is believed by scientists to be a type of bedrock that could be suitable for future drilling.

NASA scientists already reported that the Curiosity rover found temperatures on Mars just above freezing in what is the first measurement of the temperature there in more than 30 years.

Curiosity Rover On Mars Takes Detour To Geographic Wonder is a post from: The Inquisitr

We always knew Britney Spears was a little bit spacey, but we never thought she would receive a message from Mars. The Britney Spears Mars message arrived by way of the Curiosity rover, NASA’s recently touched down space toy which is capable of vaporizing rock with its laser system while running on a nuclear battery.

Spears started the dialog when she tweeted to the Curiosity rover:

“So @MarsCuriosity… does Mars look the same as it did in 2000?”

Shortly after that comment was posted the Curiosity’s official Twitter page read:

“@britneyspears Hey Brit Brit. Mars is still looking good, Maybe someday an astronaut will bring me a gift, too. Drill bits crossed ”

The “gift” part of the comment stems from the Britney Spears video ”Oops! … I Did It Again” which you may recall includes a Red Planet astronaut returning to earth and giving Britney Spears a present.

While Britney Spears many not be a rocket scientist, her tweet and the surrounding hoopla involving it goes to showcase how the public interest in space exploration continues to re-emerge, especially after the dramatic landing of the Mars rover in which Curiosity managed to photograph the crash landing of the very vessel that delivered it to the Red Planet.

We will now begin to call Britney Spears an official space cadet and, unlike years past, this time we mean it in a non-insulting type of way. Also, I can’t help but think it fitting that Britney Spears would spend her free time speaking to a robot location in another part of our solar system.

Britney Spears Receives Message From Mars is a post from: The Inquisitr

A mysterious Mars photo led some to believe that the Curiosity Rover had discovered life on the red planet in one of its very first images. NASA, however, says it was probably just dirt.

The LA Times reports that one of the first images sent back from the Mars Curiosity Rover showed a “faint but distinctive” blotch on the horizon. On subsequent images, however, the blotch is gone.

What was that faint smoke in the distance? A martian civilization hurrying underground? A smudge of dirt on the Curiosity’s camera? A piece of the Rover crashing in the distance?

The Lookout reports that the blotch remains a mystery but NASA has a few theories.

The space organization released a “crime scene” photo of the Curiosity Rover’s landing site and believes that the smudge in the distance could be the “sky crane,” the spacecraft that flew the rover to mars, crashing to the red planet.

The LA Times writes:

“The crime scene photo showed that the sky crane had crash-landed, as designed, about 2,000 feet away—and in the same direction that Curiosity’s camera was pointed when it snapped the first photo showing the blotch. The new satellite photo also showed that the sky crane, when it crash-landed, kicked up a violent wave of dirt that had scarred the surface of Mars.”

But according to Curiosity mission manager Michael Watkins, it’s unlikely that the Curiosity captured the sky crane in the photo.

Watkins said:

“I don’t think you can rule it out… It bears looking into. It would be incredibly cool. … A crazy, serendipitous thing.”

Emily Lakdawalla, senior editor at the Planetary Society, added:

“It’s circumstantial evidence — but it’s pretty good circumstantial evidence… It looks like we may actually have seen it, but it’s hard to know.”

Here’s the mysterious mars photo. What is the blotch on the horizon?

Do you think the Curiosity captured the Sky Crane falling to the surface of Mars? Or is it just a spec of dirt?

When the photo was released, NASA wrote:

“It was taken through a ‘fisheye’ wide-angle lens on one of the rover’s rear left Hazard-Avoidance cameras at one-quarter of full resolution. The clear dust cover on the camera is still on in this view, and dust can be seen around its edge, along with three cover fasteners.”

You can see more photos from the mission to Mars here. 

Mysterious Mars Photo Captures ‘Serendipitous’ Moment is a post from: The Inquisitr

NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover has only been on the surface of the red planet for a few days but it has already sent back several photos and videos. Today, NASA released the first color image from the Curiosity’s mission.

During it’s first few hours on Mars the Curiosity sent back several low-res, black and white photos of the martian surface. (You can see those photos here.) But now that the Mars Rover is getting acclimated to the new terrain, it’s starting to use some of its more advanced cameras.

According to NASA, the new Mars photo was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on Sol 1, the first day after landing.

NASA writes:

“In the distance, the image shows the north wall and rim of Gale Crater. The image is murky because the MAHLI’s removable dust cover is apparently coated with dust blown onto the camera during the rover’s terminal descent. Images taken without the dust cover in place are expected during checkout of the robotic arm in coming weeks.”

NASA explains that the  MAHLI camera is meant for close-up, high-resolution photos of rocks and soil. The camera can focus on objects as close as .08 inches. Thankfully, it can also take pictures of landscapes and faraway objects.

Here’s the new color photo of Mars from the Curiosity Rover.

You can check out the first photos sent back from the Mars Curiosity Rover here or take a look at the first video taken by the red planet’s newest inhabitant here. 

[Top Image Was Taken By Another Rover On Mars. You Can See The Full Photo Here.]

New Mars Photo: Curiosity Sends Back First Color Image Of Red Planet is a post from: The Inquisitr

On Monday afternoon the NASA Mars rover known as Curiosity made its decent to Mars and the entire event was captured via hundreds of snapshots. Described as “seven minutes of terror” the event included the Mars rover shedding its heat shield and ended with a big pile of dust being kicked up on the planets surface as Curiosity landed on the red planet.

While NASA will eventually release a high definition video of the landing for now they have chosen to show off a low-resolution landing that was created by stringing 297 images together from the rovers decent via the Mars Descent Imager.

The images you are about to witness include the final two and a half minutes of the rovers decent into the Martian crater.

While this particular video is amateurish at best the Curiosity rover has already begun to send back high-resolution photos (pictured above) of Mount Sharp, a three-mile-high mountain at the center of the crater and the location of NASA’s main study point.

What NASA has learned so far is that Curiosity landed in an excellent spot and will be able to travel with relative ease in any direction it so chooses.

Here’s a quick look at the Mars rovers final moments of descent:

According NPR‘s Joe Palca the NASA team is working on a 24 hour, 39 minute long day to keep up with Martian time, a fact that has left many workers with a case of “non-stop jetlag.”

Will you be following the Mars Rovers progress moving forward?

Mars ‘Curiosity’ Rover Sends Back First Landing Video is a post from: The Inquisitr

Next month, NASA’s Curiosity Rover will touch down on Mars, but it isn’t going to be an easy landing. In fact, NASA says that the Curiosity will go through “7 minutes of Terror” during its final descent to the red planet.

NASA has posted a video on Youtube detailing the challenges that the Curiosity will face as it approaches Mars.

Adam Steltzner, a NASA engineer, said:

“When people look at it, it looks crazy. When we look at it, it looks crazy. It’s the result of reasoned engineering thought… but it still looks crazy.”

Tom Rivellini, another NASA engineer, adds:

“We’ve got literally seven minutes to get from the top of the atmosphere to the surface of Mars, going from 13,000 miles an hour to zero… If any one thing doesn’t work just right, it’s game over.”

So here’s how the Mars Curiosity Rover’s landing is going to go down. The capsule will approach Mars traveling at about 13,000 miles an hour. The friction of the atmosphere will slow down the capsule. The reduced speed will  trigger an onboard steering system that will carry out the rest of the landing. As the capsule slows down even more as it hurls toward Mars a parachute will be deployed. But this won’t slow down the capsule enough. Mars Curiosity will fire the rockets on its underbelly in order to stop its downward momentum.

The Curiosity will then fire cables to the surface of Mars so that it can pull itself down to the red planet.

The new video has been criticized by some users for being a little over the top. While others are applauding NASA for finally putting some excitement back into space exploration.

Here’s the video “Seven Minutes Of Terror.”

The Mars Curiosity will join two other Rovers on the surface of the red planet. The Rover Opportunity recently sent back a panoramic photo of that Martian landscape. 

‘Seven Minutes Of Terror’ Gives Glimpse Of Curiosity Rover’s Landing On Mars [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr