What’s Next for Mars Rover Curiosity
[audio: st20120813.mp3]
(Photo credit: NASA)Mars Rover Curiosity had a successful landing on the surface of Mars last week so what’s next for the craft? Engineers are powering up all the different systems on the craft and making sure everything is working as it should and most importantly making sure they can get images back to Earth. There are 17 different cameras on the rover and The quality of these images will increase as time goes on. The primary mission duration is two years, but can last as long as 10 years. There is already a low res movie available of Curiosity landing on the surface. You can follow along with almost every aspect of the life of Curiosity on the NASA website. Also, don’t miss what’s in the night sky this week including the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower. All this and more on this week’s Sky Talk.
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Skytalk is hosted by WHYY's Dave Heller. Each week he discusses the latest news in astronomy with Dr. Derrick H. Pitts of the Franklin Institute.
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