Curiosity,
as known to the robot vehicle of 2,500 million dollars that the U.S.
Space Agency (NASA) sent to Mars, got through Monday at 05H31 GMT,
capping a successful mission to Mars more sophisticated in history ,
according to NASA.
"Arrival confirmed," said a member of mission control at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA in Pasadena (California, U.S. West),
while the office burst into celebrations.
"We put wheels on Mars.
My God, "he added, after Curiosity successfully achieved its descent of
seven minutes, which seems to have developed as planned despite its
complexity.
Right after that pose Martian territory, amid laughter and applause
from the staff of the checkpoint, an official of the mission distributed
chocolate bars Mars brand to your computer.
After the relief came a second burst of joy when the robot sent his
first picture of startling clarity, which portrays his own shadow in
Marian soil.
It is anticipated that the mission of Curiosity last two years, and it
is expected that, among other things, identify possible traces of past
life on Mars.
The Curiosity robot landed on Mars on Monday to make an ambitious mission to detect any traces of extraterrestrial life, said the U.S. Space Agency (NASA) in Pasadena (California).
"Arrival confirmed," said the 05H31 GMT a member of mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of NASA, triggering a burst of celebrations.
"We put wheels on Mars. My God, "he added, after receiving the first signals that the vehicle, 900 kilos, had reached the red planet after a complex operation.
A second burst of joy came shortly after when the robot sent his first picture of startling clarity, which portrays his own shadow in the martian soil.
President Barack Obama hailed the performance of a "technological feat unprecedented."
The expedition was a risky bet, which required an investment of 2,500 million dollars.
The vehicle-robot ("rover") was released on November 26, 2011 on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral 541 (Florida). In his eight months and a half flight covered 570 million kilometers.
Among its objectives, the mission includes the search for traces of past life on the fourth planet from the sun, the closest to Earth.
Some scientists wore amulets and other invoked the spirits of the nation, as a team member who dyed her hair flying in the colors of the American flag.
In fact, less than half of the attempts made by space agencies worldwide to reach Mars have been successful since 1960.
"It's a great day for the nation (U.S.), a great day for all our partners who have material (in vehicle) and a great day for the American people," said NASA administrator, Charles Bolden.
Scientists have discovered evidence of water on Mars, indicating that some form of microbial life could have developed in the past on this planet now has a thin atmosphere, extreme winter and dust storms.
The site chosen for the decline is the Gale Crater, near Mount Sharp (5,000 m). It is one of the lowest places on Mars and convergence point of several rivers that are believed flowed from upland areas, which may contain valuable information about the past in its sedimentary layers.
Curiority, equipped with six wheels and ten-space instruments including 17 cameras, a laser capable of destroying rocks and a series of laboratory tools to analyze its composition, will also seek to collect data to prepare a future manned mission.
Its operation will be secured by a nuclear generator.
Curiosity will give "a huge step in planetary exploration," said Jon Holdren, science adviser to Obama.
The decline in the Martian soil was a complex operation, because we had to reduce the momentum of 21,243 kilometers per hour, only 2.74 kilometers per hour, through the deployment of a large parachute and spatial activation of a crane to deposit slowly the robot.
Curiosity thus joins the list of successful missions in NASA Mars as Viking 1 and 2 (1976), Pathfinder (1997), Marz Exploration Rovers (2004) and Phoenix (2008).
The
second day on Mars went smoothly for Curiosity, vehicle NASA's robotic
Mars arrived on Monday, said Wednesday the space agency, adding that all
antennas, communication channels and the electric generator work well.
"We now have confirmation that all antennas and communication channels
of the robot work perfectly," said Jennifer Trosper, one of the managers
of the mission, in a press conference at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Pasadena (California, West USA)
"We are confident in the fact that we now have a great capacity for
transmission of data across all channels, which was one of the main
objectives of this first part of the mission," he added.
The mast of Curiosity, equipped with two cameras (Mastcam) that act as two large eyes, and has been deployed, said Trosper. Thus, we can obtain high definition panoramic images of 360 degrees from Thursday, the third day of the mission of the robot.
The team was also able to solve the anomaly that prevented the proper functioning of meteorological instruments.
And another good news is that nuclear electricity generator works very
well and "we have more power than expected, allowing us to operate the
robot longer," said Jennifer Trosper.
The thermal data show that temperatures encountered by Curiosity are less cold than they expected, without offering specifics.
The U.S. space agency has released new images of the shadow of the robot and another robot itself, taken by the mast.
A third image partially black and white panoramic north of the crater
shows a vast plain covered with sediment rather low mountains in the
distance.
"What most surprised to see this picture is that, to some extent, the
first impression we have is that it looks like a landscape on Earth,"
said John Gotzinger, one of the mission scientists.
"What we can confirm by looking at the horizon is that all these
materials found in this area come from the erosion of mountains by the
circulating water," he said.
Curiosity is a focal point for probably formed by debris alluvial sediments transported by water, had told NASA.
"These images also indicate that the thrust of the thrusters of the
ship, a sort of wheel-crane deposited the Curiosity have dug a trench
two feet to reveal the bedrock," said Götzinger.
NASA has released images of the spectacular arrival of Curiosity and
the aerial photos and a video of last minutes of the precipitous decline
of this rover of 900 kilos, the heaviest and most sophisticated ever
sent to another planet.
Curiosity is located 12 kilometers from the slopes of Sharp Mountain,
5,000 meters high, which is situated inside the huge crater Gale.
The rover must determine, over the next two years if the Martian environment was conducive to microbial life in the past.