CURIOSITY ROVER

The Curiosity rover is a nuclear-powered Mars rover that is part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission by the United States. Curiosity carries the most advanced payload of scientific equipment ever used on the surface of Mars.

Its main goals are, Determine whether Mars could ever have supported life  including the role of water, study the climate and geology of Mars. It is also useful preparation for future missions, perhaps a manned mission to Mars. It  has six main scientific objectives , Determine the mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials, Attempt to detect chemical building blocks of life (bio signatures), Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils, Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes, Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide, Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic radiation, cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons.

ROVER INSTRUMENTS

The general analysis strategy begins with high resolution cameras to look for features of interest. If a particular surface is of interest, Curiosity can vaporize a small portion of it with an infrared laser and examine the resulting spectra signature to query the rock's elemental composition. If that signature intrigues, the rover will use its long arm to swing over a microscope and an X-ray spectrometer to take a closer look.

1 Mast Camera (MastCam)

2 Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI)

3 Mars Descent Imager (MARDI)

4 Hazard avoidance cameras (Hazcams)

5 Navigation cameras (Navcams)

6 Chemistry and Camera complex (ChemCam)

7 Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS)

8 Alpha-particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS)

9 Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin)

10 Radiation assessment detector (RAD)

11 Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN)

                 12 Sample analysis at Mars (SAM)

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CURIOSITY ROVER" MEDIA DAY B-ROLL RELEASE 

Contents include: First driving test; Arm movement; Driving over ramps; Mission animation; Potential landing sites; Parachute test; Helicopter drop test; Mobility system installation; Mast installation; Sample collection; Full-motion drop test and Rover in Mars Yard.