curiosity | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:03:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png curiosity | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 NASA’s 2020 rover MOXIE unit will make O2 from Martian air https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-2020-rover-moxie-unit-will-make-o2-from-martian-air/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-2020-rover-moxie-unit-will-make-o2-from-martian-air/#respond Tue, 15 Nov 2016 12:03:30 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=311652 NASA has been sending rovers to Mars since the '90s and currently operates both Opportunity and Curiosity on the red planet. However it has plans for something much grander in the near future, with a 2020 launch of the next rover set to take with it a number of new and exciting instruments. One of …

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NASA has been sending rovers to Mars since the '90s and currently operates both Opportunity and Curiosity on the red planet. However it has plans for something much grander in the near future, with a 2020 launch of the next rover set to take with it a number of new and exciting instruments. One of them, known as MOXIE, will attempt to make oxygen from Martian carbon dioxide.

Built on a similar framework to the previously launched and landed Curiosity, the next-generation of Mars rover will carry much more sophisticated equipment and upgraded hardware. These scientific instruments will be used to conduct a number of experiments which will help determine soil composition, habitability of the environment, as well as searching for signs of possible Martian life.

roverevolutiion2

One of the most exciting instruments that will be aboard the 2020 rover though is the Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment, or MOXIE. It will be used to convert Mars' carbon dioxide dominant atmosphere into oxygen, which could pave the way for breathable air generation in future manned Mars missions.

Other instruments include: the Mascam-Z, an advanced camera system which can produce panoramic and stereoscopic images; SuperCam, which can provide imaging and chemical composition analysis, as well as detecting organic compounds in rocks from a distance; the PIXL system, which will provide an in-depth look at the chemical composition of Martian surface materials; the SHERLOC spectrometer, which provides fine-scale imaging through ultraviolet laser which will also help detect organic compounds; the environmental dynamics analyser sensor suite, which will draw information from the atmosphere and its various factors, and a ground penetrating radar which will give us centimetre-scale resolution of the ground's geologic structure for the first time.

roverevolution

All of that advanced kit will be fitted to a Curiosity-like frame and locomotion system, as it's proven to not only be capable of traversing Mars, but landing safely.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The timetable for NASA's plan to get people to Mars is much more conservative than the commercial space sector. It will be interesting to see which is more accurate in the long run. 

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Updated: GameBundle wants to give forgotten ‘god’ Henderson $10,000 https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/gamebundle-wants-to-give-forgotten-god-bryan-henderson-10000/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/jon-martindale/gamebundle-wants-to-give-forgotten-god-bryan-henderson-10000/#respond Wed, 03 Feb 2016 15:40:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=282271 Update: The people behind GameBundle got in touch to let us know that it has now reached out to 22Cans and Peter Molyneux to ask if they want to get involved with the Game Bundle. That letter is reprinted in full below: “Dear 22Cans, “We hope this letter finds you well. If you haven’t heard, …

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Update: The people behind GameBundle got in touch to let us know that it has now reached out to 22Cans and Peter Molyneux to ask if they want to get involved with the Game Bundle. That letter is reprinted in full below:

“Dear 22Cans,

“We hope this letter finds you well. If you haven’t heard, we just announced that our first bundle will be going on sale on February 26th. The theme of the bundle is “The Forgotten God” GameBundle and we’ll be giving Bryan Henderson 10% of the net revenue. You may be familiar with Bryan, he was the winner of your “Curiosity – What’s Inside the Cube” contest but had the misfortune of never receiving his reward. We know you went into the contest with great intentions of giving one individual a life-changing prize and that due to certain circumstances you weren’t able to fulfill this obligation. We’d like to give you the chance to right this wrong and join our debut bundle by including Godus as one of the titles that will be offered. If you choose to join the bundle, our recommendation is that you give your portion of the profits to Bryan, but we’ll leave that up to you.
Sincerely,

“The GameBundle Team.”

We, like GameBundle have reached out to 22Cans for comment. If and when it replies, we'll continue to update this story.

Original Story: I'd ask you if you remember Bryan Henderson, but you've probably forgotten about him as much as 22 Cans has. The young man won a “life-changing” prize when he made it to the centre of Peter Molyneux's phone tapping ‘game' to be the God of Gods, in Godus. But that never happened, so to make it up to him and promote its new service, GameBundle wants to give him $10,000.

GameBundle is much like the Humble Bundle, offering a collection of games together in one package, but with so many options for bundles nowadays, it's hard to get much attention. That's why it's roped in Henderson to help draw some eyes to its launch in just under a month's time. It's using his story as a promotional tool, but does plan to give him 10 per cent of all revenue earned from the starting bundle, hopefully reaching at least $10,000 (as per EG).

forgottengod

The story goes, that Henderson was yet another Peter Molyneux promise that never materialised. He won the Curiosity game, after people spent months pointlessly tapping at a cube to have it dissipate. It meant he was to become a new type of gamer within the yet-to-be-developed Godus, he was going to be the God of the game. Initially he was to set the laws of the world, rule over other gods and receive a portion of revenue from its sales.

But none of that ever happened, and as Eurogamer's exposé on the man showed last year, Molyneux and his developer, 22 Cans largely forgot about Henderson and the grand plan for Godus. The game now lies in perpetual Early Access, with twice as many negative reviews as positive, a lack of regular updates and no end in sight for its development.

Perhaps at least Henerson can make a bit of money by teaming up with GameBundle. The launch collection of games will be eight strong we're told, though as it stands what those games are hasn't been announced. Henderson said that if he does get a few grand from the experience, he'll use it to go travelling once he's finished university.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Molyneux should really buy one of the game bundles.That way he could say he gave Henderson some money at least.

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Peter Molyneux’s Curiosity indirectly makes a God https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/brendan-morgan/peter-molyneuxs-curiosity-indirectly-makes-a-god/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/brendan-morgan/peter-molyneuxs-curiosity-indirectly-makes-a-god/#comments Fri, 13 Feb 2015 02:17:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=235509 Peter Molyneux's Curiosity game that had thousands tapping away at big cube for months during 2013 trying desperately to reach the center and the final tap. In the end a young chap from Edinburgh called Bryan Henderson tapped the final block out of existence and was destined to receive the so-called “life-changing” prize for doing …

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Peter Molyneux's Curiosity game that had thousands tapping away at big cube for months during 2013 trying desperately to reach the center and the final tap. In the end a young chap from Edinburgh called Bryan Henderson tapped the final block out of existence and was destined to receive the so-called “life-changing” prize for doing so. Only thing is, it didn't really turn out that way, until now.

As a recent report published by Eurogamer states, nothing has really changed at all for Bryan in the intervening years and to make matters even worse he was still not a God as was promised by the perpetually over promising Molyneux, all he got was a t-shirt. But now, thanks to Nigel Lowrie of Devolver Digital, the developer behind Hotline Miami, Bryan will finally receive his God-like status. On a recent Youtube video Devolver have stated that “Bryan Henderson has been lost for years. He was promised he would become a God… Now, thanks to Not A Hero, he has,”
BryanTheGod
Developed by OlliOlli studio roll7 and published by Devolver Digital, Not A Hero now contains Bryan as a God, with fittingly God-like powers. The game should be up for release on PC, PS4 and PSVita sometime in the next few months and is a 2D cover-based indie shooter, which all sounds pretty fun. Bryan however will not be a playable character.
[yframe url='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ag_93F3_9E'] When asked for his thoughts on the situation by Polygon Bryan was pretty relaxed about the whole thing, saying “I didn't really know what to expect when I was waiting for the email from Devolver, so when I got asked to be a character in the game I just thought ‘Well this is pretty cool. I'm up for this.'” Well at least our new God is relaxed about the whole thing.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Peter Molyneux's nasty habit of over promising and under delivering is really getting his reputation a beating. I've been at a few of his talks and he is very convincing in person, so it's easy to believe all he says at the time, I just wish he wouldn't over promise as the games he does end up making are often some of my favourites.

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Mars may have methane producing microbes https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/brendan-morgan/mars-may-have-methane-producing-microbes/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/brendan-morgan/mars-may-have-methane-producing-microbes/#respond Wed, 17 Dec 2014 08:32:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=226660 In a paper released in the Science academic journal a few days ago, a group of NASA scientists has confirmed the existence of methane gas on Mars. This is a good indicator of life, as 95% of methane here on Earth is generated by Microbes. While this is in itself impressive, some of the other facts about their findings, make this …

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In a paper released in the Science academic journal a few days ago, a group of NASA scientists has confirmed the existence of methane gas on Mars. This is a good indicator of life, as 95% of methane here on Earth is generated by Microbes. While this is in itself impressive, some of the other facts about their findings, make this an even more interesting discovery!

Over the past 20 months, NASA made observations using the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) on the Curiosity rover. This has shown large bursts over the usual background levels of atmospheric methane, sometimes more than 10 times the usual amount.

nasa mars methane

While scientists cannot yet be sure exactly what is sending these bursts of gas into the Martian atmosphere, they do have a few theories. The leading one is that the methane is escaping from under the surface of the red planet in an outgassing, similar to the way that a geyser works here on earth.

NASA has also released findings from several drilling samples, which show Martian organic chemicals in the dust produced by the drill. These are “the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars.” according to the space agency. It cannot be sure however if these were formed on Mars itself, or if they were brought to the planet by meteorites.

Hopefully when the European Space Agency's ExoMars touches down in January 2019, it will be able to confirm some of these NASA findings. Failing that NASA hopes to have the first humans on Mars in the 2030s, so not long to wait!

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Both of these discoveries could point to multi-cellular life on Mars, but we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. While finding life of any kind outside of our own blue marble would be amazing, it will probably still be a long time until it can be confirmed. Do you have any hopes of us finding extraterrestrial life on the red planet?

Source: Science, NASA

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NASA’s next Mars rover will test basic terraforming https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-next-mars-rover-will-test-basic-terraforming/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/nasas-next-mars-rover-will-test-basic-terraforming/#comments Fri, 01 Aug 2014 14:09:21 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=205625 The Mars Curiosity rover is a not-so-little badass, having taken astounding pictures of the surface of the red planet, zapped rocks with lasers to find out their chemical components and given us hope that we might one day find life on the seemingly dead world. It's older cousin, Opportunity, is no slouch either, having recently …

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The Mars Curiosity rover is a not-so-little badass, having taken astounding pictures of the surface of the red planet, zapped rocks with lasers to find out their chemical components and given us hope that we might one day find life on the seemingly dead world. It's older cousin, Opportunity, is no slouch either, having recently broken the distance record for off-world rovers. However the next rover in line to take to the stars and head in Mars' direction, is going to bring with it some serious scientific equipment, enough to even test basic terraforming.

As it stands, the rover is set to launch from Earth's atmosphere sometime in 2020, hence it's current name: Mars 2020. It'll also be using the same body as the Curiosity rover, as NASA has a spare lying around so why not make use of it, but the equipment it will carry will be much more advanced.

For example, its camera system is going to have a zoom function, something that's not possible with Curiosity. Beyond that though, the new Mastcam-Z system, will allow for multi-wavelength images to be taken, looking at ultraviolet and infrared spectrums, which could provide us with whole new sets of data.

mars2020

This extra analysis will also come in handy when it comes to the onboard laser. Curiosity has one of those already and has been shooting rocks with it to see what comes out, vaporising them and then analysing the resulting gasses. On the 2020 rover however, NASA will be able to turn those cameras on to the vapours, analysing them in multiple wavelengths.

Other features which Wired has highlighted, include a weather analyser which will consider things like barometric pressure, temperature humidity and wind speed, letting us give a more accurate weather forecast for Mars' burgeoning tourist industry. There's also going to be a new radar system that can scan up to a third of a mile into the ground beneath the rover, giving us a detailed map of the earth's composition.

However the most forward-thinking technology aboard the 2020, is its oxygen generator. The Oxygen ISRU Experiment is a piece of equipment that can take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into oxygen. While 2020 isn't going to terraform the entire planet for us, advanced versions of it could one day produce liquid oxygen for fuel, or breathable air for astronauts living and working on the surface.

KitGuru Says: For those of you waiting for a KSP reference, you're not getting one…

Duna. 

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Lego is going all Mars-Curious https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/lego-is-going-all-mars-curious/ Sat, 28 Dec 2013 14:07:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=169363 I'm so confident the question on your lips after reading this will be, “why didn't they release this before Christmas?” that I'm opening the article with it. That's right, Lego, the makers of real-world Minecraft blocks, has announced plans to launch a 1:20 scale lego model of the Mars Curiosity rover, complete with an articulated …

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I'm so confident the question on your lips after reading this will be, “why didn't they release this before Christmas?” that I'm opening the article with it. That's right, Lego, the makers of real-world Minecraft blocks, has announced plans to launch a 1:20 scale lego model of the Mars Curiosity rover, complete with an articulated robotic arm, multiple cameras, six-wheel rocker suspension and even some obstacles to manoeuvre over and around.

As Wired points out, this is coming out of Lego's Cuusoo program, which lets people submit their own ideas for lego projects, which others can then vote on. If a project receives 10,000 votes, it enters consideration for actual production. That's exactly what happened with the Curiosity Rover, submitted by mechanical engineer Stephen Pakbaz, who helped build the real version of the Mars explorer.

marsrover
Pakbaz with the first lego Rover

According to his breakdown on the Lego blog, Mr Pakbaz wanted to create a kit that wasn't just an homage to the car sized Rover, but something that children (and more than likely a few adults) can build and use in the same fashion as the real version.

“Above all, the LEGO Curiosity model is not just a display piece,” he explained. “It has a functioning rocker-bogie suspension system and fully articulated robotic arm. It can be used to explore the unknown regions of your house or office. After climbing the outer walls of Carpet Crater and descending into Couch Canyon you will finally be able to determine if your living room was ever capable of supporting microbial life!”

The little lego rover is set for release on the 1st January 2014 and will cost $30.

KitGuru Says: I haven't been a big lego guy since I was a kid. It's all about wargaming models these days. But what about you guys? Anyone thinking they might grab one of these? 

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Curiosity rover finds ancient fresh water lake https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-finds-ancient-fresh-water-lake/ Wed, 11 Dec 2013 11:41:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=167063 NASA's Curiosity rover continues to throw up exciting information about its current home, Mars, where it has found evidence that suggests there was once a fresh water lake in an area known as Yellowknife Bay that was neither too acidic, nor too alkaline to support life. abortion persuasive essay Announced in a Science Magazine paper …

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NASA's Curiosity rover continues to throw up exciting information about its current home, Mars, where it has found evidence that suggests there was once a fresh water lake in an area known as Yellowknife Bay that was neither too acidic, nor too alkaline to support life.

Announced in a Science Magazine paper (via Wired), the discovery was made by analysing several sedimentary rocks made from smectite clay minerals, which evidently formed in water. It's believed that the lake these rocks were deposited in would have been able to support chemolithoautotrophs, microbes that are often found on earth surrounding deep sea vents.

curiosity

While that environment no longer exists today, it's believed that it may have endured for tens of thousands of years and were it still around, placing earth based chemolithoautographs in it would have allowed them to survive on a different planet.

Perhaps most exciting about this latest report however, is that due to the  “higher abundances of chlorinated hydrocarbons in the mudstone compared with Rocknest,” it could theoretically mean that the bed of this lake, made up of mudstone, could contain organic carbon based life, though it cannot be confirmed at this point whether that matter is of martian origin.

KitGuru Says: Quite exciting news considering the potential for finding the remains of organic life not from our own planet. Makes me want to get back on to Kerbal's new career mode. 

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Mars rat gets internet all flustered https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mars-rat-gets-internet-all-flustered/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mars-rat-gets-internet-all-flustered/#comments Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:46:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=137204 If there's one thing the human brain and the internet have in common, its deriving meaning from something very mundane and both of these phenomenons have struck again, with the recent “discovery” of the Mars rat, a small rock that does indeed look like a rodent – on Mars. It comes from a photo taken …

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If there's one thing the human brain and the internet have in common, its deriving meaning from something very mundane and both of these phenomenons have struck again, with the recent “discovery” of the Mars rat, a small rock that does indeed look like a rodent – on Mars.

It comes from a photo taken by the Curiosity Rover last year but has seemingly, only now been combed through by experts and Mars aficionados alike recently. In the image, between a pair of rather non-descript rocks, is another that looks to have ears, eyes, snout, legs and perhaps even tail – though if this was a Mars creature, its back legs leave a lot to be desired.

marsrat

As much as we may want to find extra-terrestrial life, the other reason people see a small, air breathing mammal where that rock lies, is a phenomenon called pareidolia, which as any number of in-the-know Redditors will tell you, is the human tendency to recognise shapes and images where there are none. It's thought to be an evolutionary trait to help children bond with parents early on in their development.

KitGuru Says:  Of course it would be far cooler if this really was a Mars rat, but hey, if you want to pretend, there is a twitter account for it, which seems to be giving away all his species' plans for an invasion of Earth.

Thanks LATimes

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Rovers investigate Martian river beds https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/rovers-investigate-martian-river-beds/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/rovers-investigate-martian-river-beds/#respond Wed, 22 May 2013 12:12:04 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=135522 The twin Mars Rovers Opportunity and Curiosity have both been looking into old riverbeds on the red planet, discovering that flowing water existed in impressive volumes at one point, suggesting that life could well have been sustained in Mars' history. A lot of this new information comes from rocks drilled by the more contemporary Curiosity, …

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The twin Mars Rovers Opportunity and Curiosity have both been looking into old riverbeds on the red planet, discovering that flowing water existed in impressive volumes at one point, suggesting that life could well have been sustained in Mars' history.

A lot of this new information comes from rocks drilled by the more contemporary Curiosity, which found that conditions within the samples could have once supported microbial life. The recently drilled Cumerland rock will be used to verify initial findings from previously drilled and analysed sample, John Klein. Both of these rocks were found within Yellowknife Bay, which NASA now thinks was the end of a river system from many millenia ago.

I can't help but love the fact that NASA is naming rocks now. 

Curiosity's older and littler borther, Opportunity has been doing similar study with its own toolset. While it doesn't have a drill or onboard sample analysers, it does have an X-ray spectrometer and an abrasion tool, so has managed to rub away at rocks until it can take pictures and X-ray the interior, which has shown that the Endeavour crater also once had water in it.

hi5
I hope NASA built in a Hi5 ability for these Rovers. How else can they earn Science Collaboration Points?

While Curiosity is obviously the more impressive of humanity's current Mars explorers, Opportunity is a proven survivor. Initially designed to conduct a 90 day mission, it's been going for over nine years and shows no sign of slowing down.

Kitguru Says: I love these little guys. I hope one day when their time is done we can recover them or at least stick them on a plinth on Mars. They deserve it.

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Curiosity cube reaches last few layers, end in sight https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/jon-martindale/curiosity-cube-reaches-last-few-layers-end-in-sight/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/jon-martindale/curiosity-cube-reaches-last-few-layers-end-in-sight/#respond Thu, 02 May 2013 11:31:50 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=133769 Remember Peter Molyneux's high concept social game? Curosity? You know the one with all the cubes? Well when it was launched, there was a big furore over what was at the centre of the cube. Molyneux said it would be life changing and for a while, a lot of sites and individuals kept up on …

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Remember Peter Molyneux's high concept social game? Curosity? You know the one with all the cubes? Well when it was launched, there was a big furore over what was at the centre of the cube. Molyneux said it would be life changing and for a while, a lot of sites and individuals kept up on the progress of players as they tapped away, removing layer upon layer; but after hundreds of layers and over six months of tapping, pretty much everyone gave up caring. Now though, we're nearing the end and it will be interested to see if the “life changing” centre really pays off.

According to Molyneux's studio, 22 Cans' predictions, we're looking at around 10th May for the cube to finally be opened up, with the winner receiving a link to a video that will give them their final prize, or at least share with them what it is. At that point the winner will have the option to share the video around or keep it to themselves.

42
The winner is going to be really bummed if the video just says, “42.”

Speaking with Eurogamer, Molyneux said: “If I give any clues then the amazing fact that it hasn't leaked out – because I'm just such a blabber mouth – it would be such a shame if that was the case.”

Curiosity's recent headline grabbing announcement was that you could pay real money to add cubelets back to the cube. You could pay real money to troll people. It's not known how many people took 22 Cans up on this offer, but considering it's not been long since this feature was introduced and we're suddenly near the end of the cube, it can't have been many.

Kitguru Says: While I admire 22 Cans ability to get so many people “playing” on the same cube, the idea of this as a game confused me. You're just tapping your screen, there's no gameplay, no scope. This isn't Minecraft, it's just tapping. Snore. 

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No aliens have stolen the Mars Curiosity parachute, just yet https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/no-aliens-have-stolen-the-mars-curiosity-parachute-just-yet/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jon-martindale/no-aliens-have-stolen-the-mars-curiosity-parachute-just-yet/#respond Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:56:13 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=130710 NASA spent a lot of time and money (though not as much as you'd expect) sending the Curiosity Rover to Mars so understandably they want to keep an eye on it from all angles. One such angle is from space, thanks to the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been checking in …

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NASA spent a lot of time and money (though not as much as you'd expect) sending the Curiosity Rover to Mars so understandably they want to keep an eye on it from all angles. One such angle is from space, thanks to the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been checking in on the parachute.

A new animated gif, shows the changing state of the parachute over the months between August and January, with it quite clear that it's blowing around in the wind throughout that time. The bright shape in the top right of the image is Curiosity's back shell which provided structural support during the descent stage of the Mars approach, as well as protecting the rover itself.

marsrover
Don't wait for this to change, it's a still image. Click it for the full gif.

According to Wired's breakdown, the parachute used in the Curiosity landing was the largest used on another planet, with a 15 metre diameter when fully deployed.

KitGuru Says: The Curiosity Rover is one of man's greatest achievements in recent years but sadly it gets far too little a note in the world's press.

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Curiosity rover is photo sharing again https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-is-photo-sharing-again/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/curiosity-rover-is-photo-sharing-again/#respond Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:00:59 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=129546 After a malfunction that booted the little guy into safe mode – we're assuming the intergalactic version of a BSOD – the Mars Curiosity Rover is once again transmitting pictures across the cosmos to our humble blue marble of a planet. Unfortunately however, the little guy may need to take a break throughout April, as …

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After a malfunction that booted the little guy into safe mode – we're assuming the intergalactic version of a BSOD – the Mars Curiosity Rover is once again transmitting pictures across the cosmos to our humble blue marble of a planet.

Unfortunately however, the little guy may need to take a break throughout April, as the Sun is set to pass between us and Mars, making communications difficult at best – you know, because the Sun is ridiculously big. However, this doesn't mean that lil' Rover will be sitting idle. While he will receive no commands – that could potentially be corrupted – between 4th April and 1st May, Curiosity will be continuing his previously scheduled functions and experiments.

Curiosity
This picture is a colorised black and white mosaic of images.

So far Curiosity has not only sent back fascinating pictures of the red planet, but has also discovered a white rock which adds to the evidence pile that Mars once had flowing water on its surface.

The Rover was forced to halt in its tracks recently however, due to a series of setbacks. These included a memory failure, followed by a shut down during a solar storm and finally a random glitch forced scientists to send Curiosity into temporary safe mode.

KitGuru Says: I'm really, really looking forward to the first manned Mars mission. I feel lucky that we're part of the generation that gets to witness that. Of course those in their mid-50s will no doubt remember the moon landing as it happened. While I wouldn't trade my virile young form for yours, that's a pretty cool memory to have.

Thanks NBC

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Peter Molyneux asking for donations for Curiosity’s sake https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/jon-martindale/peter-molyneux-asking-for-donations-for-curiositys-sake/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/jon-martindale/peter-molyneux-asking-for-donations-for-curiositys-sake/#respond Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:22:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=115150 Peter Molyneux, the man behind many a hit god sim and recently the cube tapping experiment, “Curiosity,” has asked the general public for donations to help push the iOS title into a state where it's playable in the fashion that it was designed. For the past several days, players of Curiosity have found it difficult …

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Peter Molyneux, the man behind many a hit god sim and recently the cube tapping experiment, “Curiosity,” has asked the general public for donations to help push the iOS title into a state where it's playable in the fashion that it was designed.

For the past several days, players of Curiosity have found it difficult to log in and there has been lag and delays between their tapping and other players seeing it. Apparently Molyneux's company, 22 Cans, has now found a solution to these problems, but in order to make it work, server costs will go up by a large margin – which is apparently where you come in.

“We may need help to make the experience truly wonderful, our server costs are going to ramp up with our new fix,” Molyneux explained (via CVG). This was followed up by a statement on the company's website: “We are a small independent developer and due to popular demand we now offer the option for kind people to donate, so that we can make Curiosity the best possible experience it can be. However big or small the donation; it will really help us make Curiosity better.”

[yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQyjRhumDy8′]

KitGuru Says: So what's the verdict on this one guys? Molyneux has a sizeable fortune of his own. Should he be investing that, or is it ok to ask the community to help out, considering Curiosity is a free app? Let us know.

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Molyneux isn’t convinced Smartglass is a good thing https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/molyneux-isnt-convinced-smartglass-is-a-good-thing/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/molyneux-isnt-convinced-smartglass-is-a-good-thing/#comments Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:00:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=114987 Despite the Wii U's gamepad and Microsoft's Smartglass – and yours truly – suggesting that the addition of a second screen and the mix up between touch and traditional gaming controllers is something worth investing our interest in, Peter Molyneux, currently working on his next big project at 22 Cans, isn't convinced. He wasn't all doom …

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Despite the Wii U's gamepad and Microsoft's Smartglass – and yours truly – suggesting that the addition of a second screen and the mix up between touch and traditional gaming controllers is something worth investing our interest in, Peter Molyneux, currently working on his next big project at 22 Cans, isn't convinced.

He wasn't all doom and gloom, saying that he was excited by what it could bring, but he did admit to having “a problem” with it.”I now have a screen in front of me on my lap and a screen up on the wall that I’m looking at,” he said. “Which one should I be looking at? Should I be looking up at the big screen and down, or at my lap and up? Should I be checking down on my lap every few seconds?  What’s going to incentivize me to move my eyes from the wall to my lap?”

Molyneux
Molyneux likes cube tapping, not necessarily on the big screen

While IGN brought up the point that perhaps it's generational, that older people that haven't grown up with touchscreen devices see them as secondary, while younger gamers might see them as more primary. Molyneux disagreed however: “I think what people do when they have multiple screens is something very simple. They will listen to the big screen whilst distracting themselves on the small screen. That’s not what SmartGlass and Wii U are talking about.”

Ultimately he said that it would come down to what games could be made using the new technology. He as a point too, since the original Wiimotes drew a lot of attention in their early days and opened us up to motion controlled gaming. However beyond dance games, there hasn't been a particularly strong use for the technology in the long run.

KitGuru Says: I think Smartglass has a lot of potential, as I've mentioned before, but there's other schools of thought. Where do you guys stand?

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Curiosity touches down successfully – Tweets Curiosity https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-touches-down-successfully-tweets-curiosity/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-touches-down-successfully-tweets-curiosity/#respond Mon, 06 Aug 2012 06:07:27 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=102662 At 06:32 this morning, the Mars Science Lab completed the second stage in its journey to discover if the Red Planet ever supported life. KitGuru breathes a sigh of relief. In a novel twist to space exploration, NASA scientists have programmed Curiosity to behave exactly like a human on holiday. Every significant (and, sometimes, not …

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At 06:32 this morning, the Mars Science Lab completed the second stage in its journey to discover if the Red Planet ever supported life. KitGuru breathes a sigh of relief.

In a novel twist to space exploration, NASA scientists have programmed Curiosity to behave exactly like a human on holiday. Every significant (and, sometimes, not so significant) experience gets automatically tweeted to the world in ‘natural language' terms.

Here's a unique tourist's point of view on the historic Mars landing that took place earlier this morning:-

  • I'm focused and ready to do the job I was built to do. Countdown to Mars: 7 hours 26 min #MSL
    7 hours ago
  • I'm inside the orbit of Deimos and completely on my own. Wish me luck! #MSL
    about 1 hour ago
  • EDL main poll at @NASAJPL mission control. Nominal is my favorite word #MSL
    52 minutes ago
  • Way to go, Odyssey! The Mars orbiter is in position to relay my communications during landing in real-time back to Earth #MSL
    37 minutes ago
  • Cruise stage separation complete. So long & thanks for all the navigation. 17 minutes to Mars! #MSL
    33 minutes ago
  • I feel lighter & faster already. Cruise balance masses ejected and Mars is pulling me in #MSL
    30 minutes ago
  • Entering Mars' atmosphere. 7. Minutes. Of. Terror. Starts. NOW. #MSL
    23 minutes ago
  • Parachute deployed! Velocity 900 mph. Altitude 7 miles. 4 minutes to Mars! #MSL
    19 minutes ago
  • Heatshield separation. Next up: Radar must lock on ground #MSL
    18 minutes ago
  • Backshell separation. It's just you & me now, descent stage. Engage all retrorockets! #MSL
    17 minutes ago
  • I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL
    16 minutes ago
  • You asked for pics from my trip. Here you go!
    5 minutes ago

Here is one of Curiosity's first holiday snaps of what promises to be nearly 2 years and 500km of site-seeing.

NASA artist's impression of Curiosity 'on holiday' and the rover's 1st shot of its own shadow on Mars

KitGuru says: We love the Tweeting-twist of NASA devices engaging with a human audience back on Earth. What a great way to engage the public. Given that more missions to Mars have failed (24) than succeeded (15), Curiosity's successful landing will give NASA fresh hope for future flights.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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Curiosity prepares for Monday morning Martian landing https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-prepares-for-monday-morning-martian-landing/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/science/jules/curiosity-prepares-for-monday-morning-martian-landing/#respond Sun, 05 Aug 2012 10:33:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=102535 At the time KitGuru sits down to write this story, NASA's Curiosity space rover is closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth. Around 6am UK time, the world's most expensive landing vehicle will try and nestle its 1 ton bulk on the surface of the Red Planet and begin transmitting vital data. KitGuru …

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At the time KitGuru sits down to write this story, NASA's Curiosity space rover is closer to Mars than the moon is to Earth. Around 6am UK time, the world's most expensive landing vehicle will try and nestle its 1 ton bulk on the surface of the Red Planet and begin transmitting vital data. KitGuru crosses fingers, toes and eyes in an attempt to focus good luck energy skywards.

The science is intriguing, but when you put tomorrow morning's effort in to real world terms, it's even more impressive.

Find a fat mate, ideally one that weighs around 100Kg, then try and pick them up. Now get 8 of their mates around and get them to all stand in a single box and try to lift that. Next, contemplate that box being made of various metals, raise it up into the atmosphere and fire it at the ground at around 20,000 Km/hour. Fancy their chances of survival much?

This exactly the kind of problem that NASA has been working on since 2004.

No Intel Inside. No Microsoft in sight. Wow. How will NASA ever mount a serious mission to Mars without the world's leading processors and operating systems? Someone should offer them a deal on Windows 8. Surely.

Given that the distance between Mars and Earth can vary anywhere from 36 million to almost 250 million miles, the launch window for the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) was narrow, so when an Atlas V rocket blasted into the heavens on 26th November 2011 – NASA knew that it was firmly in the land of ‘do or die'.

Critics of space travel claim that the $2.5 Billion spend on the Mars Science Laboratory was too much.

In comparison, the amount spent by the USA on fighting wars in the Middle East over the past 10 years ($1.36 Trillion) would have paid for ‘Curiosity' to be built and launched, once a day – almost every day – for nearly 2 years.

Bargain.

Call us old-fashioned, but we'd rather see rockets blasted into space for exploration than killing Marines for oil.

Boeing/Lockheed-Martin has created a lander that is generations ahead of its predecessors. For a start, it is around 10x the size of previous landed vehicles (2x wider and 5x longer).

Able to roll straight over obstacles around 30cm (1 foot) in height, Curiosity can investigate around 30 metres of Mars a day. It has been built to last almost 2 years, so in theory it will allow NASA to intimately survey an area that's almost 500km long.

The real world does not often follow theory exactly, but if things go well, then the distance covered would be similar to travelling from London to Glasgow or Toronto to Washington. This is a huge distance and will hopefully yield convincing evidence, one way or the other, about Mars' ability to support life in the past.

The challenge is not to find life that became extinct in the last century or millennium, but rather to find microbial life from at least 2 billion years ago. Having a large moon and molten core, enabled Earth to develop water-based life over a greater period of time – whereas the Martian core appears to have frozen shortly after the planet was formed (possibly ~4 billion years ago).

Earth's larger mass and bulky moon helped keep our core molten and, therefore, magnetic. As you can see, the Martian plates stopped moving a long time ago, temperatures plummeted and surface water dissipated

Geeks among the KitGuru audience will laugh at the relatively weak processing power that will be available for the mission:-

  • RAD750 processor manufactured by British Aerospace from IBM PowerPC 750 technology
  • Its 10.4 million transistors churn through more than 250 million instructions a second (250MIPS)
  • Alongside 256MB of DRAM, it also has a whopping 2GB of Flash memory
  • The whole package has been available for more than 10 years and it first went into space around 2005
  • Mounted on a special board, the radiation-hardened unit costs a mere $200,000
  • It can take an X-Ray/Gamma Ray licking and keep on ticking, while ambient temperatures around it can vary from a chilli -55 degrees to a toasty 70 degrees

The rover will parachute into the atmosphere and, shortly before landing, a carrier craft will deploy boosters to slow its decent completely. With luck, on Monday 6th August 2012 – 67 years to the day after Hiroshima was devastated by the world's first atomic attack – a nuclear powered rover called Curiosity will begin to transmit amazing data back to scientists on earth.

With a mission duration of close to 2 years, we have to hope that something cool makes its way into the data stream.

Copying Zardon's pub-crawlling technique from the 80s, Curiosity should cushion down gently Monday morning

.

We encourage you to join in with NASA's ambitious journey over here.

KitGuru says: This mission really captures the imagination of a KitGuru. Exploring distant planets is the stuff of Sci-Fi and legend. We will all be watching out screens with baited breath – hoping that the landing mechanisms work 100% and the greatest Martian mission to date kicks off on Monday morning.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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