back to article Curiosity clears things up

Curiosity has dusted off the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to take new snaps of the red planet's surface. MAHLI is described as being analogous to the small magnifiers geologists like to wear about their necks. NASA describes it thusly: “The self-focusing, roughly 4-centimeter-wide (1.5-inch-wide) camera will take color …

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  1. mIRCat
    Linux

    Curosity5 alive!

    1. Moosey
      Terminator

      Thinking more ED "Curiosity" 209 :o)

      1. bluesxman
        Go

        You have 14 minutes to comply!

      2. Will Stephenson
        Terminator

        M.A.R.K. 13

        The reddish haze reminds me more of the "M.A.R.K. 13 prototype killer combat droid" from the 1990 film Hardware.

        1. CD001

          Re: M.A.R.K. 13

          Being something of (huge) a Nef fan and, occasional aficionado of 2000 ADs ABC warriors... I could not but upvote this post.

    2. Steve Evans

      Life not malfunction!

  2. dssf

    But, NASA fears Curiosity may muddy the waters -- if any water is found

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mars-contaminate-20120910,0,365701.story

    FTA:

    " For all the hopes NASA has pinned on the rover it deposited on Mars last month, one wish has gone unspoken: Please don't find water.

    Scientists don't believe they will. They chose the cold, dry equatorial landing site in Mars' Gale Crater for its geology, not its prospects for harboring water or ice, which exist elsewhere on the planet.

    But if by chance the rover Curiosity does find H2O, a controversy that has simmered at NASA for nearly a year will burst into the open. Curiosity's drill bits may be contaminated with Earth microbes. If they are, and if those bits touch water, the organisms could survive.

    The possible contamination of the drill bits occurred six months before the rover's launch last Nov. 26. The bits had been sterilized inside a box to be opened only after Curiosity landed on Mars.

    But that changed after engineers grew concerned that a rough landing could damage the rover and the drill mechanism. They decided to open the box and mount one bit in the drill as a hedge to ensure success of one of the most promising scientific tools aboard Curiosity. The drill is to bore into rocks looking for clues that life could have existed on the planet. Even if a damaged mechanism couldn't load a drill bit, at least the rover would have one ready to go.

    Under the agency's procedures, the box should not have been opened without knowledge of a NASA scientist who is responsible for guarding Mars against contamination from Earth. But Planetary Protection Officer Catharine Conley wasn't consulted.

    "They shouldn't have done it without telling me," she said. "It is not responsible for us not to follow our own rules.""

    More at the article...

    1. Notas Badoff
      Facepalm

      Re: ... muddy the waters ...

      Blame the robot, blame the robot... it's always blame the robot. Make the can-man carry the man's can.

      1. Kharkov
        Facepalm

        Re: ... muddy the waters ...

        Would you say that the man-can has to carry too many cans for the man? Or that the man SHOULD carry what the man-can can?

        And so on...

        1. TheRealRoland

          Re: ... muddy the waters ...

          Oh, the candy man can...

  3. Downrange
    Coat

    An Interplanetary First!

    ...use of the Myspace angle

    1. Menelaus-uk
      Trollface

      Re: An Interplanetary First!

      With that colour tone, are you sure it's not Instagram?

  4. Tony Humphreys

    Johnny 5

    Is Alive (on Mars with one eye)

  5. John Hawkins

    Resolved?

    Perhaps Curiosity didn't respond in time so the support ticket was closed automatically. Counts as 'resolved' these days.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Resolved?

      Hmm, you're not a customer of JCI are you? :)

  6. Crisp
    Terminator

    It's looking right at me!

    That single unblinking eye!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It's looking right at me!

      The thing I noticed immediately after looking at the 'unblinking eye' was below it. Curiosity actually has a face. You can clearly define, eyes, nose, ears and a mouth on it... Wishful thinking hopes this was intended.

      1. The lone lurker

        Re: It's looking right at me!

        I think Pareidolia is probably more likely unfortunately.

    2. Crisp
      Alien

      Re: It's looking right at me!

      Now there's another face on Mars!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It's looking right at me!

        Exactly what I was thinking actually Crisp.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ..."but not all is well on board the nuclear powered tank as recent tests on its arm produced “caution about a temperature reading”. Some tests were postponed as a result of those readings, which were later “resolved” satisfactorily"

    So actually, all is well?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      HAL Is your confidence in me fully restored?

      BOWMAN Yes, it is, Hal.

      HAL Well, that's a relief. You know I have the greatest enthusiasm possible for the mission.

  8. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Is ther e a version of the 'sharper' image

    Without the horrible JPEG compression artifacts all over it?

  9. johnnymotel
    Coat

    just pack up and come home, no point prattling about the Mars surface anymore...the Frenchies have just announced "NO LIFE ON MARS'

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Quite the opposite.

      Stop messing around with sterilisation and start preparing construction mega-site already!

  10. Andus McCoatover
    Windows

    Always freaks me.....

    ..send something halfway across the solar system, and a malfunction (in this case, the arm) appears. They fix it. From here.

    If my telly goes on the blink, and I have to get up off my ass from the sofah to give it a bit of 'friendly persuasion' with my fist, it still doesn't fix it....Maybe I need the "NASA-101 Electronics" course...

  11. Haku
    Coat

    The next Mars rover should be called URAS

    Untethered

    Robotic

    Analytic

    System

    But really because people could legitimately say "Get URAS to Mars"...

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