Source
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4954–4960: Celebrating Our Rover Engineers Past and Present - NASA Science
This article acknowledges the role of rover engineers in supporting Curiosity's mission on Mars. They manage safe navigation, instrument deployment, and drilling operations to enable scientific study as the rover ascends Mount Sharp.
Why it matters
The technical precision of these engineers prevents the rover from getting stuck or damaged. This ensures that scientists can safely acquire high-quality geological data and images from Martian rock layers.
The details
- Engineers navigated Curiosity over 23 miles and more than 4,400 feet in elevation.
- The rover has successfully drilled more than 20 rock targets on Mars.
- A motor failure in 2016 required reconfiguring drilling processes for nearly a year half.
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In this article
Key connections
NASA owns the CheMin instrument on Curiosity.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is related to Curiosity
JPL manages engineering, rover operations, and arm reconfigurations for Curiosity.
Curiosity delivers drilled rock samples to its internal CheMin instrument.
SAM is an onboard instrument on Curiosity used for housekeeping activities such as column-cleaning.
Curiosity ran a SAM column-cleaning activity as part of its housekeeping tasks.
NASA owns and operates the Curiosity Mars rover.
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NASA owns the APXS instrument on Curiosity.
NASA owns the Mastcam instrument on Curiosity.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a partner of NASA
Federally funded research and development center operating missions for NASA
NASA owns the MAHLI instrument on Curiosity.
NASA owns the ChemCam instrument on Curiosity.
Curiosity uses its Mastcam to capture images and measure atmospheric dust.
Curiosity uses MAHLI to acquire high-resolution images of bedrock targets and calibration targets.
Curiosity uses APXS to perform elemental composition measurements on bedrock and overnight atmospheric observations.
Curiosity uses ChemCam to gather geochemistry data and perform remote micro-imaging.
Related events
Curiosity Rover Continues Ascent of Mount Sharp During Sols 4954–4960
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