Mars

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The latest Curiosity status report indicates that the mysterious shiny object next to the rover “appears to be a shred of plastic material, likely benign, but it has not been definitively identified.”

To proceed cautiously, the team is continuing the investigation for another day before deciding whether to resume processing of the sample in the scoop. Plans include imaging of surroundings with the Mastcam.

A sample of sand and dust scooped up on Sol 61 remains in the scoop. Plans to transfer it from the scoop into other chambers of the sample-processing device were postponed as a precaution during planning for Sol 62 after the small, bright object was detected in an image from the Mast Camera (Mastcam).

I still attest that Curiosity should zap the thing with ChemCam.

(This might explain why I’m a blogger and not a NASA engineer.)

The Mars Curiosity rover tweeted (of course it tweets!) the following earlier this afternoon:

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

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) October 8, 2012

Today, Curiosity’s robotic arm reached down and scooped up its first sample of Martian dirt. Its cameras captured the historic moment, but caught something else too. There, among countless grains of reddish-orange sand, a single shimmering something caught the eyes of the image analysts back home on Earth.

Can you see it?
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

How about now?
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS and 46BLYZ)

Even clicking those images and looking at them full-size still doesn’t offer much more in the way of a better look. It’s definitely different than the soil and appears metallic, but that’s about all we can make out. NASA isn’t sure what it is yet either, which I think makes it more exciting. As a result they’ve temporarily halted anymore scooping:

Curiosity’s first scooping activity appeared to go well on Oct. 7. Subsequently, the rover team decided to refrain from using the rover’s robotic arm on Oct. 8 due to the detection of a bright object on the ground that might be a piece from the rover. Instead of arm activities during the 62nd Martian day, or sol, of the mission, 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.

Curiosity even imaged the object with its ChemCam (Chemistry and Camera), but the raw image doesn’t offer much more than the MastCam images:

(Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL)

It looks a bit less metallic in this grayscale image, perhaps more like plastic. To me it looks like a discarded shell from someone’s shrimp cocktail. (But that’s just me!)

Hey, did you know that ChemCam also has a built-in laser? It totally does. The purpose of the instrument is to zap rocks with a laser while the camera images the resulting plasma created from the vaporized rock. It can then use the images to analyze the composition and other information about that rock.

It’s my firm belief that Curiosity should zap whatever this unknown object is.  For science!

(Image Credit: NASA/Hubble)

Even though there’s still just under five months remaining until the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover lands on Mars’ surface, I almost find myself counting down the days. I woke up early to watch the launch of MSL live on NASA-TV last November and have followed the updates on its progress since then. One of the neat features you can find on the MSL website is the “Where Is Curiosity?” page, where simulated views of its progress from Earth to Mars are updated daily over its 36-week journey.

Watching the slight change in the images from day to day gave me an idea: these images could be made into a cool animation! So I hopped over to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology’s Solar System Simulator website, fiddled around with the various options, and then started collecting images for each day that the mission has been elapsed up until today. I put them together into a little video, added some music, and now I offer it to you for your interplanetary enjoyment.

In the top left, you can watch the days tick by. The MSL is labeled in green in the center of the video. If you’re interested in reading some of the details related to distance traveled and the speed of the craft, you’ll want to watch the video in HD and full-screen.

You’ll probably notice that around 14 seconds into the video (specifically, beginning with the frame for January 14), the perspective changes slightly. I’m not exactly sure what causes it, but its the way the simulator changed the images it spit out starting with that date. I’m going to contact the designer with JPL/Caltech and see if they can help me out with different perspectives. I hope to update it from time-to-time between now and August, to put Curiosity’s progress in perspective.

Have you seen the wondrous show that’s been taking place in the night sky recently? Maybe you noticed what appeared to be some especially bright stars, glittering near a crescent Moon. Perhaps you haven’t been looking up at the night sky lately (shame on you) or conditions have been too cloudy to give it a look (I live in a coastal city in Alaska, I feel your pain). Whether you’re looking or not, there’s a fantastic conjunction taking place, starring (pardon the pun!) the Moon, Jupiter, and Venus.

I took the following photo shortly after sunset on February 28, 2012, from within Joshua Tree National Park. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lens to give me a wider field of view, but the top of a Yucca Plant provides a nice touch.

This cosmic spectacle will continue over the next few days, so get out and enjoy it while you can.

Also in the night sky this month:
While the Moon will have moved away from the planets, Venus and Jupiter will be within three degrees of each other on March 12. That’s approximately the same “width” as three fingertips held at arm’s length… The planets will appear quite close to one another!

Mars also refuses to be left out of this month’s planetary attention. Look for the red planet in the Eastern sky, just a few hours after the sun sets.

Clear skies!