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.
