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The Mars Science Laboratory, called “Curiosity”, is the largest spacecraft we’ve sent to another planet. Weighing 900kg, packed with ten scientific instruments, 17 cameras and a nuclear power source the rover is looking for signs that Mars could have supported life at some point.
I caught up with Lucas Randal, Sumen Rai and Alan Kerlin to talk about the complicated Entry, Descent and Landing procedure and the rover’s two-year mission.
This artist’s concept features NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Related links and stories we talked about in this show:
- Curiosity puts wheels on Mars via Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex
- Alan Kerlin’s blog, featuring lots of interviews with people related to the mission
- Mars in a Minute: How Hard Is It to Land Curiosity on Mars?
- Emily Lakdawalla’s detailed breakdown of the Entry/Descent/Landing: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
- Mars Landing Broadcast on Ustream Outperforms Cable TV, Company Says
- NASA’s ‘Mohawk Guy’ draws ‘Curiosity’ of his own
- NASA’s constantly updating image archive
Recommended Curiosity team Twitter profiles:
- @MarsCuriosity – The Rover itself! Read about the women behind the Twitter account.
- @steltzner – Adam Steltzner, lead engineer for EDL.
- @tweetsoutloud – Bobak Ferdowsi, activity lead and flight director.
- @Matt_Heverly – Matt Heverly, mobility systems engineer and lead driver.
- @MarsRoverDriver – Scott Maxwell, team leader and Mars rover driver.
- @earthrover_sw – Chris Leger, engineer and Mars rover driver.
- @Bellutta– Mars rover driver and member of the landing site selection team.
This episode uses clips from various NASA productions believed to be in the public domain, and an excerpt from This Week in Tech’s special Curiosity episode, used under the Creative Commons license.
Sumen Rai is an industry analyst for the defence and aerospace industry, a former teacher, and a science communicator.
Alan Kerlin is an amateur astronomer and blogger. His blog is calledThe Beach House – a tribute to Douglas Adams – and features lots of science-related news, interviews and writings. Find him on Google+,Twitter and Facebook.
Download here. Duration: [0:50:54]