CURIOSITY: Big Mars Rover for Big Mars Science!
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity launchedfrom Cape Canaveral in Florida.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity launched on an Atlas V-541, the largest rocket for launching to a planet.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
It is propelled toward Mars by a Centaur upper stage.
Curiosity is headed to Gale Crater.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
You can see where other Mars landers and rovers have successfully landed on Mars too.
Gale Crater is about 96 miles wide.
It has many
rock layers for Curiosity to explore,
from canyons to channels,
all in one place!
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity is targeted to land within the yellow ellipse, on flat terrain near Gale’s central mound.
NASAJPL-Caltech/ASU/UA
Central Mound
Curiosity is twice the sizeof Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity
and five times as heavy.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
To fit all these tools on the rover, the team had to supersize everything, from the capsule that holds the rover,
to the parachute that slows it down before landing.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
To get to Mars, Curiosity will travel safely
tucked inside a protective shell.
NASAJPL-Caltech
Heat Shield
Back Shell
Descent Stage
Rover
Cruise Stage
The trip will take over eight months.
The rover will travel about 354 million miles (570 million kilometers).
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASAJPL-Caltech
Backshell Separation
Powered Descent
Sky Crane
Flyaway
Heatshield Separation
Peak Heating
Hypersonic Aero-
maneuvering
Entry Interface
Peak Deceleration
Parachute Deploy
CruiseStage
Separation
CBMDSeparation
Radar Data
Collection
11
Touchdown
Mobility Deploy
Rover Separation
Flyaway
Sky Crane Detail
Time: Entry – 10 min
Time: Entry – ~8 min
Altitude: ~125 kmVelocity: ~5,900 m/sTime: Entry + 0 s
Altitude: ~11 kmAltitude: ~11 kmVelocity: ~405 m/sVelocity: ~405 m/sTime: Entry + ~265 sTime: Entry + ~265 s
Altitude: ~8 kmAltitude: ~8 kmVelocity: ~125 m/sVelocity: ~125 m/sTime: Entry + ~289 sTime: Entry + ~289 s
Altitude: ~1.6 kmAltitude: ~1.6 kmVelocity: ~80 m/sVelocity: ~80 m/sTime: Entry + ~375 sTime: Entry + ~375 s
Altitude: 0 mAltitude: 0 mVelocity: ~0.75 m/sVelocity: ~0.75 m/sTime: Entry + ~427 sTime: Entry + ~427 s
Altitude: ~20 mAltitude: ~20 mVelocity: ~0.75 m/sVelocity: ~0.75 m/sTime: Entry + ~413 sTime: Entry + ~413 s
This chart shows the entry, descent and landing sequence
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
The spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere 78 miles above the planet. The rover will take approximately
seven minutes to reach the ground.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
This spacecraft can steer its way through the turbulent atmosphere so it can land more accurately.
The friction of the atmosphere slows the spacecraft from 13,000 mph to about 900 mph.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
The heat shield may reach 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit!
A supersonic parachute slows the spacecraft
from about 900 mph
to 180 mph,
the speed of a Formula One
race car.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
While slowing down using the parachute, the heat shield is popped off, exposing the rover to the Martian atmosphere.
The rover’s descent camera begins taking a movie of the remaining five-mile flight to the ground.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
The engines on the descent stage roar to life and fly the rover down the last mile to the surface.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
As it descends, the rover uses radar to measure its speed and altitude, which it uses to land safely.
The descent stage lowers the rover on three nylon ropes called bridle.
Coiled electronics and communications cables also unspool from the descent stage.
This configuration is known as the “Sky Crane.”Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
By the time Curiosity touches down, the rover is going about two miles per hour.
Less than seven minutes before, it was traveling at 13,000 miles per hour!
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
When the sky crane “senses” that Curiosity has touched down, the cables are cut.
The sky crane flies a safe distance away from the rover before crash-landing.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
For the first time, a Mars rover will land with wheels touching down first,
instead of airbags.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Curiosity will start exploring Mars after raising its “head” and doing a “self-check” to make sure all systems are go.
Artist’s Concept. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Driving could take several days to a few weeks after landing.
Curiosity is expected to work for one Martian year, or about two Earth years.
Artist’s Concept. NASAJ/PL-Caltech
Don’t miss the adventure on Mars, beginning August 2012!
Follow Curiosity!
Mission Website:mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl
Twitter: @MarsCuriosity
Be A Martian!beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov
www.nasa.gov/msl