Copyright (c) 2012 NASA / JPL All rights reserved. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/blogs/ Blogs, Science, and Technology Read from Martian bloggers on the Mars missions! en-us Thu, 16 May 2013 21:49:22 GMT 5 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/blogs/ http://marsstaticcdn.jpl.nasa.gov/layout/mep/images/martian_diaries.jpg NASA / JPL Williams, Jessica

About once every two Earth years, the orbits of the Earth and Mars put the planets on opposite sides of the solar system from one another. How does spacecraft Navigation change when the sun gets in the way?

]]> NASA / JPL Milkovich, Sarah

If you've ever taken a picture out the window of a moving car, you know that some portions of the picture are crisp and in-focus but due to the motion of the car, others are blurred. When we were called to take a once-in-a-lifetime image of Curiosity's landing, the HiRISE team needed to make sure that picture of the rover was crisp even if the background surface was blurry. No pressure!

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

Curiosity team members present their data to the scientific community at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

On Friday, Sanjeev Gupta, a Participating Scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, woke up in Pasadena and walked past his apartment complex's swimming pool to the parking garage.On Monday, Gupta had a very different commute to work, leaving his home near Greenwich, London, and boarding a local train into the city.

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A the end of a long day, rover drivers beam a stream of "0s" and "1s" through space, enacting the singular Space Age magic of turning a scientist's idea into a set of twists, turns, and scoops on the Red Planet.

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The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument team prepares for one final run-through before its first soil analysis.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

One scoopful coming right up, thanks to pointers from Curiosity's arm camera, MAHLI.

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Tension rises in mission control as the team awaits news of the first scooping operation of martian soil.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

Curiosity's first contact-science rock target was named as a memorial to JPL engineer, Jake Matijevic.

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What is it about the rover's pictures of itself that stop scientists in their tracks?

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How Curiosity's Long Term Planning team keeps mission objectives in full view.

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Atmospheric pressure readings from Curiosity reveal unusual patterns of martian weather.

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The rocks of Gale Crater may look Earth-like, but the weather tells a different story.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

A gap in the scientific action spurs poetic creativity.

]]> NASA / JPL , Be A Martian

It's one thing to build a camera-to send it to Mars. It's another to actually see it there, whole, sound, and beautiful. Exactly as you intended, waiting patiently to do the job you designed it for.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

The CheMin team analyzes the instrument's initial run and finds some surprising signs of activity.

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Curiosity's final scientific instrument gets up and running.

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Sixty-eight minutes, two dozen scientists, two hours of science. Decisions must be made.

]]> NASA / JPL Ferdowsi, Bobak

Going from cruise, to landing, to surface operations has been a bit crazy. Just talking about what Curiosity and I have been up to, and what a typical day is like for us.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

Now that Curiosity has successfully spun its wheels and started moving across the floor of Gale Crater, rover drivers are starting to dream bigger.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

That SAM-I-am. That SAM-I-am! I do SO like that SAM-I-am! Say, I LIKE green PS3_Imon_AUX2 traces in RAM!
I do! I like them SAM-I-am!

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

Curiosity's science team identified its first destination: Glenelg, a site where three types of terrain converge, offering a lot of bang for the team’s scientific buck.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

The Mars Science Laboratory mission transitioned from one of the most impressive engineering feats in space exploration history to a scientific mission with enormous potential for discovery.

]]> NASA / JPL Marlow, Jeffrey

Mars rovers, by definition, rove. That’s kind of the point: to spin the wheels and carry scientific instruments across the landscape, facilitating the investigation of martian geology.

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In one corner of the Mars Science Laboratory mission operations floor, computer projectors beam constantly updating color-coded charts onto four large screens that cover the walls.

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