Talk:Curiosity (rover)/Archive 3

Latest comment: 5 years ago by Stepho-wrs in topic Self portraits
Archive 1Archive 2Archive 3

Marching band second round

JPL director Charles Elachi reportedly told conference attendees in Rome that the rover may have found organics JPL: Curiosity rover has not found organic compounds on Mars --Stone (talk) 22:26, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Charles Elachi is not member of the science team, so he is only speculates and the may should be written in bigger letters.--Stone (talk) 22:28, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
Bad news guys. The Curiosity official Facebook feed also announced this afternoon that they have not found any organics. Quite bluntly and unambiguously: "Everybody, chill. After careful analysis, there are NO Martian organics in recent samples. Update Dec. 3: http://go.nasa.gov/114tJs9". Time to take down the bunting. For now. DanHobley (talk) 02:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
I will be at the AGU and I will try to get a better overview.--Stone (talk) 09:00, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
So it was the NPR reporter that fabricated the hype. Cleanup time. BatteryIncluded (talk) 13:34, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
Brief NYT note re present Mars "discovery" status => < ref name="NYT-20121129">Chang, Kenneth (November 29, 2012). "NASA Plays Down Mars Speculation". New York Times. Retrieved November 30, 2012.</ref> - Enjoy! Drbogdan (talk) 14:28, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

FWIW - Summary of latest news (2pm/et/usa, Mon, Dec 3, 2012) reported here => < ref name="NASA-20121203">Brown, Dwayne; Webster, Guy; Jones, Nancy Neal (December 3, 3012). "NASA Mars Rover Fully Analyzes First Martian Soil Samples". Retrieved December 3, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)</ref> AND < ref name="Slate-20121203">Plait, Phil (December 3, 3012). "Curiosity Finds Cool Chemistry on Mars but No Organics". Retrieved December 3, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |published= ignored (help)</ref> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 19:00, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Links to Video (70:13) of AGU/Mars conference (December 3, 2012) => NASA-1 and NASA-2 - ALSO => < ref name="NYT-20121203">Chang, Ken (December 3, 2012). "Mars Rover Discovery Revealed". New York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2012.</ref> - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 02:22, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
The science session was even better. Paul made it clearer what he thinks than in the press conference.--Stone (talk) 03:01, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

ChemCam

The article ChemCam: under the hood gives nice inside to the Thales laser used. It is a 700Watt diode pumped Nd:KGW laser. KGW is Kalium-Gadolinium-Wolframate (potassium-gadolinium tungstate). In the French thesis Étude de l’endommagement laser dans les cristaux non linéaires en régime nanoseconde a image is shown of the laser system. Later I might have the time to add a few things.--Stone (talk) 09:20, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Sols on Mars - Wikipedia notes *1-SOL LESS* than NASA?

Seems the Curiosity rover landing on Mars occurred officially on "August 6, 2012 05:17 UTC"< ref name ="Space-20120806">Wall, Mike (August 6, 2012). "Touchdown! Huge NASA Rover Lands on Mars". Space.com. Retrieved December 14, 2012.</ref> - using "August 6, 2012" in the Wikipedia template for "Sols on Mars" => { {age in sols|2012|08|06}} seems to give "4371 Sols", a number that is *1-SOL LESS* than that given on the official onsite NASA Counter - explanation(s) welcome of course - TIA - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:34, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

To quote the template documentation:
This template was created for use on Mars mission pages, NASA ones in particular, which identify mission milestones based on the mission sol which begins with sol 0 on the landing date for rover and landers and the orbital insertion date for orbiters. Examples include:
This template is useful for converting any span of Earth days into the appropriate number of sols with precision of ~ +/- 1 sol due because it rounds to the nearest sol.
I think that explains the discrepancy. We're currently at sol 130, but still closer to 129 than to 130 sols away from the the sol we had at noon of August 6, 2012. --Julian H. (talk) 16:45, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
@Julian H. - Thank you for your comment - yes, this helps - seems I should have considered the template description earlier - Thanks again - and - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 17:51, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
I tried to get a precise result, but it's far away from the clock on the NASA site: User:Julian_Herzog/sandbox#Age in sols. I really don't know how they calculate this. --Julian H. (talk) 20:02, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks for trying - perhaps the NASA Mars "sols" clock *could be* in error? - after all, I recently helped the NASA Staff correct several errors in a recent image description on the NASA WebSite (compare incorrect "Aug 10" with similar correct "Dec 10") - in any case - decided to link the word "sols" in the Curiosity rover info box with the http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ WebSite - might be easier to compare the two determinations for "sols" - ok to rv/mv/ce of course - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 04:54, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
FWIW - Seems the official NASA Mars Timekeeping Clocks, titled "MARS24", is available for download at => http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/ - the "NASA Mars Clocks" includes the "Curiosity Rover" Mission Timer and much more - also available is the mathematical basis for the "NASA Mars Clocks" (at http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/algorithm.html) and links to other related technical informations (at http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/) - hope this helps in some ways - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:28, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

NOTE: Several relevant comments from a recent (12/19/2012) email correspondence with NASA are below:

  • the NASA Mars Clock (at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/) and the "MARS24" program (at http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/) are not "official" NASA Mars Clocks, may give similar times and may be "off by some odd amount" (by "1 or 2 seconds" at last look?) from the true official Mars Clock "kernel" - (the "official 'kernel' [is] maintained at JPL").
  • the "Curiosity mission clock starts from mean local solar midnight immediately preceding touchdown, and for the midnight at the originally planned landing longitude and not the actual landing longitude. As MSL touched down mid afternoon local time, a clock started at the time of touchdown would lag between the mission clock by about 15 Mars hours." [use SpaceCraft Event Time (SCET) rather than Earth Received Time (ERT) which may be "off by about 14 minutes"].
  • in summary, "if you plug the time and date UT 2012-08-05 13:50:00 into an MSL timekeeping calculation, you should obtain that it is mission time 00:00 on Sol 0. If you're off by a second or two, you're doing as well as Mars24. If you're off by about 7-8 seconds, you may be using the landing longitude in the calculation rather than the planned longitude. If you're off by about 14 minutes, then you probably have ERT rather than SCET."

Hope the above is helpful in some way - in any regards - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 17:57, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Perfect, that explains it. Thanks. I replaced the clock with a timer that is in compliance with NASA now. --Julian H. (talk) 19:34, 19 December 2012 (UTC)
@Julian H. - Thank you *very much* for your newly created template re the "Mars Curiosity Rover Mission Timer" - yes, the "Sols Count" now seems to be better - and more consistent with the NASA Mars Clock (as well as the NASA MARS24 Program) - Thanks again for your efforts - it's *very much* appreciated - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 23:36, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Superceded. See below. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 03:39, 28 January 2013 (UTC)


Curiosity roverCuriosity (rover) – This follows the standard naming convention for spacecraft articles (e.g., Huygens (spacecraft) or Galileo (spacecraft)) and is actually a page (originally a redirect) created on 27 May 2009‎, long before the "Curiosity rover" page was created on 6 August 2012‎. WolfmanSF (talk) 06:12, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Actually, in all the non-rover cases the title is derived from the mission name, so they are not at all consistent with the present name of this article - the equivalent here would be something like "Mars Science Laboratory rover", which would be fine. "Curiosity rover" does not make sense because the name of this vehicle is simply "Curiosity" - it's like saying "Titanic ship". I agree that we should be consistent in naming all the rover articles. WolfmanSF (talk) 02:06, 23 January 2013 (UTC)
See below. WolfmanSF (talk) 03:46, 26 January 2013 (UTC)
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Requested move 2

The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was moved. --BDD (talk) 21:56, 4 February 2013 (UTC) (non-admin closure)

– This follows the standard naming convention for articles for spacecraft named after something else (e.g., Dawn (spacecraft), Deep Impact (spacecraft), Galileo (spacecraft), Genesis (spacecraft), Huygens (spacecraft), Juno (spacecraft), Kepler (spacecraft), Phoenix (spacecraft), Stardust (spacecraft), etc.). In the case of Curiosity, this is actually a page (originally a redirect) created on 27 May 2009‎, long before the "Curiosity rover" page was created on 6 August 2012‎. The logic is simple: the appended terms "spacecraft" or "rover" are explanatory and not part of the actual formal names of these vehicles, and thus should properly be enclosed in parentheses. WolfmanSF (talk) 03:45, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

Themal Inertia Transition

The last image in the set of images in the Aerial image section includes detailed data on ground temperatures, and shows a line drawn on the aerial photo map that says "Themal Inertia Transition". I looked for Themal Inertia Transition to be described in the article, and there appears to be nothing on it. Did searches of all occurrences of "thermal" and "inertia": nothing. Should we perhaps improve the article by describing this phenomenon called Themal Inertia Transition? Cheers. N2e (talk) 16:45, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

  Done, I guess. Just searched the article for both "thermal" and "inertia" and found no occurence of the term "Themal Inertia Transition"—so it appears to have been fixed by someone in the great emergent process of Wikipedia over the past six weeks. N2e (talk) 14:18, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Events and discoveries

There doesn't seem to be any section in this article which deals with Curiosity's findings, so I propose the creation of an "Events and discoveries" section. --Philpill691 (talk) 18:31, 10 March 2013 (UTC)

May wish to see the Curiosity (rover) timeline article - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 21:45, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
Ah. Thank you for pointing that out. But shouldn't there be a section here summarizing the major findings described in the timeline article, with a link to said article? There is a precedent for doing this in other articles (like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Thanks :) --Philpill691 (talk) 23:55, 10 March 2013 (UTC)
Yes, in my view, a high-level summary paragraph here, with a "main" template link to the timeline article, would be in order. N2e (talk) 14:15, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
And just as an aside, happy 1 year anniversary on Mars (Earth days) to the Curiosity rover and the ground operations team. Keep on trucking... --OliverTwisted (Talk)(Stuff) 05:46, 6 August 2013 (UTC)
FWIW - the 1-year anniversary event (August 6, 2012 to August 5, 2013) of the Curiosity rover on Mars is covered, at least to some extent, in the "Current Status" and "Videos" sections of the Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory article - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 12:43, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Need clarification

I'm puzzled by what this means: "including investigation of the role of water;" The role of water in what? The geology of the landscape? Zedshort (talk) 22:44, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

Cost?

what's it cost? 99.153.64.179 (talk) 05:36, 17 November 2013 (UTC)

I dont know anything about the real one's cost, but the lego model costs $29.99 :P Wertercatt (talk) 15:12, 13 January 2014 (UTC)
According to Mars Science Laboratory#Overview => "The total cost of the MSL project is about US$2.5 billion."< ref name="leone">Leone, Dan (July 8, 2011). "Mars Science Lab Needs $44M More To Fly, NASA Audit Finds". Space News International. Retrieved November 26, 2011.</ref>< ref>D. Leone – MSL Readings Could Improve Safety for Human Mars Missions – Space News</ref> - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:32, 13 January 2014 (UTC)
Archive 1Archive 2Archive 3

Remove Website hosting section?

The last paragraph of this article is a very technical description of how the website for the Curiosity rover is hosted. This information is not relevant to the rover itself and would only be understood by an IT professional or someone with a technical understanding of IT. Unless anyone disagrees here, I shall remove this section shortly. Savlonn (talk) 18:51, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Current new News

Headline-1: Rock sample taken by NASA's Mars rover could yield new chemical, mineral finds

QUOTE: "Samples of Martian rock powder taken by NASA’s Curiosity rover this week could reveal new chemical and mineral elements on the red planet, team members say." -- Charles Edwin Shipp (talk) 15:17, 10 May 2014 (UTC) -- PS:FYI for future editing.

Penny significance

Is Curiosity the only rover to have a penny or other coin on board? And if so, does that make this the first exploratory lander (as opposed to non-landing space probe) to carry with it an image of a human being (Lincoln)? If so, this should definitely be noted here. 68.146.52.234 (talk) 14:55, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV (07/14/2014-2pm/et/usa) - Search for Life Beyond Earth.

NASA-TV - Monday, July 14, 2014 (2:00-3:30pm/et/usa) - panel of leading experts to discuss plans leading to the "discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars"[1] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 13:42, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

FOLLOWUP - NASA VIDEO REPLAY - Space Experts Discuss the "Search for Life in the Universe" (86:49) at => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNjuz6MO0eU - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 12:45, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

References

NASA-TV (07/31/2014@12pm/et/usa) - Mars 2020 Rover - Announcement.

NASA-TV (07/31/2014@12 noon/pm/et/usa) - Panel of leading experts to announce instruments for the upcoming Mars 2020 Rover[1] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 02:51, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

FOLLOWUP - RELATED NASA REFERENCES - Space Experts Announce Mars 2020 Rover Payload => M2020 - Video (51:42) - New Science Instruments (July 2014) - ALSO[2] - AND[3] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 18:09, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Brown, Dwayne (July 30, 2014). "NASA to Announce Mars 2020 Rover Instruments". NASA. Retrieved July 30, 2014.
  2. ^ Brown, Dwayne (July 31, 2014). "RELEASE 14-208 NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before". NASA. Retrieved July 31, 2014. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 15 (help)
  3. ^ Brown, Dwayne (July 31, 2014). "NASA Announces Mars 2020 Rover Payload to Explore the Red Planet as Never Before". NASA. Retrieved July 31, 2014.

NASA Planetary Senior Review Panel report

Link to Senior Review Panel report. -- ToE 19:54, 7 September 2014 (UTC)

Cost?

Although a comparison is made to the cost of the Beagle 2 lander, I don't see any budget for Curiosity, or any hint what the monetary cost would have been, preferably broken down in various ways (development, launch, operations, etc). 74.240.193.14 (talk) 04:36, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

See Mars Science Laboratory#History. This article specifically discusses the rover, whereas that article discusses the overall mission, and is the appropriate place for costs. Huntster (t @ c) 06:22, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (09/11/2014@1pm/et/usa) - Curiosity Rover - Future Studies.

NASA-TV/ustream (Thursday, 09/11/2014@1pm/et/usa) - Panel of experts to discuss the mission status and future science campaign of the Curiosity Rover[1] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 11:25, 10 September 2014 (UTC)\

FOLLOWUP - Space Experts Discuss the Curiosity Rover and Future Plans (a/o September 11, 2014) - Archived Discussion => Audio (62:44) and Visuals - AND - related NYT ref[2] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:48, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Brown, Dwayne; Agle, DC (September 9, 2014). "MEDIA ADVISORY M14-154 NASA Holds Teleconference to Discuss Science Campaign of Curiosity Mars Rover". NASA. Retrieved September 10, 2014. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 23 (help)
  2. ^ Chang, Kenneth (September 11, 2014). "After a Two-Year Trek, NASA's Mars Rover Reaches Its Mountain Lab". New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2014.

Telecommunications diagram

A while ago I created an image in preparation for the arrival of MAVEN and MOM. However, this is not my area of expertise and it is quite possible that my diagram is inaccurate. Is it? JKDw (talk) 04:44, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

Is an interview with Curiositys chief engineer spam?

I watched an excellent hour-long interview with Curiositys chief engineer, as it confirmed and expanded on this article and is free to watch (its creative commons licenced) I added it as an external link, just to have it removed as spam, were they right? Rob Manning interviewed on the TV show Triangulation on the TWiT.tv network Back ache (talk) 21:13, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

@Back ache: - Thank you for your comments - I reverted your good faith addition on the basis of possible xs WP:Spam on the link - for me, seemed a lot of spam to view before the interview even started - ideally, and if possible, a site with less spam may be better I would think - I tried youtube ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGKbt9oUze0 ) but seems the same spam remains for the interview - so far, I've been unable to find the interview on the NASA WebSite ( http://www.nasa.gov/ ) although other materials by Rob Manning seem available - perhaps others may have better luck? - at the moment, my position on re-adding the link is flexible - Comments from others always welcome of course - in any case - Thanks again for your comments - and - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 22:40, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

The entire video is an 1 hour 25 min long long, there is an ad and a title sequence but thats over by 1:41 and in total the adverts are only a small percentage of the time and can be skipped through, given this is first-hand information from a prominent member of the project a little skipping I think is a small price to pay, I would even go as far to say that watching the entire thing open whilst you have the artical open would add extra info as well as acting as a great reference source. Whats also really nice is that the interview is technical enough to get the most from the interviewee, my favourite bit is Rob saying they all love The Martian ! (I do too) Back ache (talk) 14:09, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (12/8/2014@12noon/et/usa) - Curiosity Rover - Observations.

NASA-TV/ustream (Monday, December 8, 2014@12noon/et/usa) - Panel of experts to discuss the latest observations of the Curiosity Rover[1] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 00:56, 4 December 2014 (UTC)

FOLLOWUP - Space Experts Discuss the Curiosity Rover and Latest Observations (a/o December 8, 2014)[2][3] - Archived Discussion => Audio (62:03) and Visuals - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 19:38, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Webster, Guy; Brown, Dwayne (December 3, 2014). "NASA to Hold Dec. 8 Media Teleconference on Mars Rover Curiosity Observations". NASA. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  2. ^ Brown, Dwayne; Webster, Guy (December 8, 2014). "Release 14-326 - NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to How Water Helped Shape Martian Landscape". NASA. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  3. ^ Kaufmann, Marc (December 8, 2014). "(Stronger) Signs of Life on Mars". New York Times. Retrieved December 8, 2014.

File:PIA16239 High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera.jpg to appear on the main page

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:PIA16239 High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on May 17, 2014. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2014-05-17. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:41, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

A self-portrait by the Mars rover Curiosity on October 31, 2012. The mosaic is stitched from a set of 55 images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager at "Rocknest," the spot in Gale crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Self-portraits such as this help NASA document the state of the rover and track changes, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear.Photograph: NASA

It has been suggested that this image should be described as a "selfie", since the Oxford dictionary has recently accepted this term. The dictionary also accepts "pussy" as a synonym for "cat". Would the "selfie" proponents also suggest that cats should be described as pussies in Wikipedia? DOwenWilliams (talk) 02:33, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

NASA-TV/ustream (9/28/2015@11:30am/et/usa) - Mars Mystery Solved.

NASA-TV/ustream (Monday, September 28, 2015@11:30am/et/usa) - NASA will detail a "Major Science Finding" about the planet Mars[1] - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 01:04, 25 September 2015 (UTC)

BRIEF Followup - evidence presented that liquid water may be currently flowing on the planet Mars[2][3][4] (conference videos[5][6] and somewhat related Nature (journal) (1979) reference re lifeforms in hypersaline (and/or brine) water of Don Juan Pond, Antarctica[7]) - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 18:21, 28 September 2015 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Webster, Guy; Brown, Dwayne; Cantillo, Laurie (September 24, 2015). "NASA to Announce Mars Mystery Solved". NASA. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  2. ^ Chang, Kenneth (28 September 2015). "NASA Says Signs of Liquid Water Flowing on Mars". New York Times. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  3. ^ Webster, Guy; Agle, DC; Brown, Dwayne; Cantillo, Laurie (28 September 2015). "NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today's Mars". Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  4. ^ Ojha, Lujendra; Wilhelm, Mary Beth; Murchie, scortt L.; McEwen, Alfred S.; Wray, James J.; Hanley, Jennifer; Massé, Marion; Chojnacki, Matt (28 September 2015). "Spectral evidence for hydrated salts in recurring slope lineae on Mars". Nature Geoscience. doi:10.1038/ngeo2546. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  5. ^ Staff (28 September 2015). "Video Highlight (02:58) - NASA News Conference - Evidence of Liquid Water on Today's Mars". NASA. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  6. ^ Staff (28 September 2015). "Video Complete (58:18) - NASA News Conference - Water Flowing on Present-Day Mars". NASA. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  7. ^ Siegel, B.Z.; McMurty, G.; Siegel, S.M.; Chen, J.; Larock, P. (30 August 1979). "Life in the calcium chloride environment of Don Juan Pond, Antarctica". Nature (journal). doi:10.1038/280828a0. Retrieved 30 September 2015.

Beagle 2 hype/apologism in "Comparisons"

There's a huge sub-section about the failed Beagle 2 which seems to be making some ridiculous claims/comparisons. What's the point in saying Beagle 2's cost was 4% of Curiosity? And especially the talk about how "innovative" Beagle 2 was?

Beagle 2 (66cm L; 33kg W) is closer to Sojourner (66cm L; 11kg W) in size than even Spirit/Opportunity (160cm L; 185kg W), let alone Curiosity (300cm L; 900kg W).

Who cares if a failed mission of substantially smaller scale cost substantially less money than a large, successful one? Is this useful, enlightening, or meaningful information? Why is a failed ESA mission being defended in this article? —DapperWrapper (talk) 17:07, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

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Grammar

Perhaps I'm reading this wrong, is "whether Mars could ever have supported" correct? I was under the impression that this should be written in present tense, i.e. "whether Mars can ever support". ~riley (talk) 20:52, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

As written, it's asking about whether there was ever a time in the past where Mars might have been able to support life. Asking "whether Mars can ever support life" is asking if there might come a time in the future when that's possible.
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Request for a "Findings" section

Someone that knows more about this that me should write a "Findings" section to summarize the discoveries of Curiosity. OriumX (talk) 22:33, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory may be the place for findings/results. - Rod57 (talk) 11:57, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Scientific discoveries

Since the main purpose of the mission is to collect scientific information, this page badly needs to document the scientific discoveries of the mission. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 186.59.120.232 (talk) 13:41, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory may be the place for findings/results. - Rod57 (talk) 11:58, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Body / Engineering

Was looking for some details on how the rover is holding up -- wear and tear. Adding a section which includes major components of the rover - robotic arms, wheels, antennae, navigation cameras, computer hardware (and software updates), motor / propulsion, frame / body - would be the first step in addressing this.

I might consider taking on this task, (and the other suggestion about adding something on "Findings" or "Scientific Discoveries"), but it would take more research than presently I have time for, especially since I've not been a Wikipedia "contributor", other than cleaning up typos I find here and there. GeeBee60 (talk) 14:53, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

@GeeBee60: The Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory seems to cover your requests. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 14:56, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Response: I am guilty of reading through the entire article too quickly, because SOME of what I seek IS found in the existing article under "Specifications". "Specifications" I find to be an unclear heading, although it may be consistent with similar articles and in that case I will accept it as a standard term. It would be stronger if the sub-headings were clear and distinguished, such as are the subheading of the next section on "Instruments". I appreciate BatteryIncluded's response, but am not sure if he is suggesting that "Timeline ..." eliminates the need for (sub)sections on "Scientific Discoveries" or "Wear & Tear" in this article, or serves as a starting point for creating these new (sub)sections. Thanks GeeBee60 (talk) 15:53, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

I agree that a sub-section dealing exclusively with the scientific results would be valuable. Cheers, BatteryIncluded (talk) 22:47, 21 March 2015 (UTC)
The only Current status I could find was in Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory so I've added an Equipment status subsection and mentioned some items with wear and tear. Could also add wheels (mentioned in other places). - Rod57 (talk) 12:12, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

Request edit

Please add the information provided in below hyperlink about SPARC processors that used in the Curiosity mars rover:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2505612/computer-processors/nasa--your-smartphone-is-as-smart-as-the-curiosity-rover.html

thanks. Editor-1 (talk) 07:43, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

Before we can complete this request, please declare your relationship with this subject. This request does not show your conflict of interest. jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 15:09, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

There is no any conflict of interest in here, just because my English is weak and this article is sensitive and important, and that paragraph is complex, I thought that it is better to get help from one person instead to make a wrong edit. Thanks. Editor-1 (talk) 08:32, 25 July 2017 (UTC)

Image

How is the image a "self portrait"? There's no link (cable, metal joint, etc) between the (assumed) camera and Curiosity. And I don't think there's mirrors on Mars. TatuJoey (talk) 01:21, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

These images get stitched together from a large number of individual pictures, each covering a different part of the view. So by moving the arm with the camera on around in between snaps, the operators are able to make a composite where you can't see the arm at all. It's pretty cool. DanHobley (talk) 10:00, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

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Time for image / map updates

While adding text is easy, I have not fully mastered adding images from external sources. But this article surely would benefit with an update of images and traverse maps, given that Curiosity recently passed its fifth (earth) year on Mars. Perhaps I will take it on, but if someone else takes it on I will NOT be jealous.

https://mars.nasa.gov/imgs/2017/08/MSL_TraverseMap_Sol1789-full.jpg

GeeBee60 (talk) 16:30, 24 August 2017 (UTC)

GeeBee60, I've uploaded the newest traverse map to File:MSL TraverseMap Sol1794-full.jpg. Leave a message on my talk page if you need anything else uploaded, or wish to learn more about uploading and licensing on Wikipedia/Commons. Cheers! Huntster (t @ c) 04:11, 25 August 2017 (UTC)
@GeeBee60 and Huntster: FWIW - if not already aware, maps (traverse/location) of the "Curiosity rover" are at the following link => "Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory#Current status" (subsection of the main article at => "Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory") - latest posted maps were from "May 22, 2017" - and agreed - may need some updating - hope this helps in some way - in any case - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 12:59, 25 August 2017 (UTC)
  Done - BRIEF Followup: Mars Curiosity rover maps (ie, Traverse & Location) have now been updated to the "August 23, 2017/Sol1794" versions in the "Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory#Current status" and "Mount Sharp#Curiosity mission" subsections - hope this helps - iac - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 15:37, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

Thank you Huntster and Drbogdan for your recent contributions. For now I'll be content, and I do know how to locate further images. My point was (and is) that there is not a lot of photo content past 2014. I don't want to get too deep in the weeds of Timeline vs Rover vs Mission, but there is a lot of early content redundancy in the three pages, while there is little recent content on any of the three. The rover is built, launched and landed and that is history. But five years in, its traverses and current location, panoramic images, discoveries, etc are ongoing and it seems that updating some of that seems to be in order. For example, the Timeline GALLERY has 2 photos from 2015, zero/zed from 2016, and 1 from 2017.

This isn't crisis, but there is an opportunity (Opportunity?) to update. GeeBee60 (talk) 18:40, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

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Checked. Redalert2fan (talk) 18:16, 10 September 2017 (UTC)

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Does it have any lights eg for the hazcams

Does it have any lights (visible or IR) eg for the hazcams ? Can it (in principle) drive at night ? Has night driving ever been considered by NASA ? - Rod57 (talk) 12:19, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

None whatsoever, not to my knowledge, and why would they? The temperature control regimen of Curiosity is quite complex (take a gander at Emily Lakdawalla's The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job); it spends its nights keeping itself alive and uploading data, not driving around in the dark. (An avionics software update a little after a year it landed gave Curiosity the ability to initiate the heating of its motors while it was otherwise asleep. Charmingly, this is called "dream mode.") kencf0618 (talk) 23:18, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

Archiving

Can somebody please fix or delete the archiving bot? It is set to archive threads as old as 60 days, but there are inactive conversations dating from 2014. Thanks. Rowan Forest (talk) 23:50, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

  Done (page name was changed) — JFG talk 00:09, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

Why is this image in French?

 
Instrument location diagram

This has been mentioned before, but there was no response at the time. Perhaps it escaped attention because it was posted as a reply to the discussion of a completely different image...? I've also posted some concerns about (undocumented modifications to) this image on its Commons talk page, though it turns out I was partly duplicating what had already been said on its English Wikipedia page (due to not realising that page existed, having followed the "More Details" link and ending up on Commons... but never mind that). I don't suppose anyone will read those, though.
Anyway, for the purposes of this article I suggest reverting to the original image created by NASA. Why? Because the context in which it appears, in both the source and our article, is Instruments. There's no mention of the radio antennas and the RTG in that section, so they don't need to be labelled (in any language). Furthermore, the current image has deletions as well as additions, including the labels for the different parts of the REMS system. 88.144.175.74 (talk) 18:24, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

Ordering of subsections in the Instruments section.

Is there any particular order in which the instruments are organized? Should it be sorted alphabetically? XYZtSpace (talk) 21:35, 27 June 2018 (UTC)

As it happens, I was looking at a NASA page about the instruments just now, and the ordering is quite similar - but not identical. I don't know if there's really much point in making it the same, though personally I would prefer it if the various navigation cameras weren't mixed in with the science instruments. Too lazy to do it myself, though. 88.144.175.74 (talk) 18:45, 31 July 2018 (UTC)

Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Curiosity

MSL and Curiosity are the same NASA mission, and the wikipedia pages have a lot of overlap. Why are there two pages for one mission? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.2.211.164 (talk) 02:38, 21 September 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 03:22, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Will it drive all the way to the summit of Mt. Sharp?

On this Reddit page, there's speculation that the mission directors have no plans to drive Curiosity all the way to the summit of Mt. Sharp.

Has there been any official word from NASA about this question? Would it even be possible to drive to the summit, or does the terrain forbid that? It would be nice if the article included some information about the rover's planned future driving route. 75.163.180.231 (talk) 15:02, 12 November 2018 (UTC)

I made suggestions about how to improve the article; namely, that the article would be improved if it
  • provided information about Curiosity's future driving route
  • addressed the question of whether the rover will drive all the way to the summit of Mt. Sharp
  • addressed the question of whether the local terrain would even permit such a thing.
FlightTime Phone felt that I violated WP:NOTFORUM. Let's see...
  1. Don't put Primary (original) research into the article. No, I didn't do that.
  2. Don't create an article about Personal inventions. Nope, not guilty of that.
  3. Don't state your particular feelings about a topic (rather than the opinions of experts). Didn't do that; to the contrary, I expressed a desire that information provided by experts (NASA officials) be added to the article.
  4. Talk pages exist solely to discuss how to improve articles. Yes, that was what I proposed; suggestions about how to improve the article.
If FlightTime Phone thinks my suggestions are not very good, I'd be happy to discuss that. But deleting my suggestions and referring me to something irrelevant (WP:NOTFORUM) is not the solution. 75.163.180.231 (talk) 06:21, 14 November 2018 (UTC)
Its mission was never to climb to the top, but to investigate the layers on the side of the mountain. Could it physically do it? Maybe: "We think the slopes are gentle enough that if you took an appropriately circuitous route, you could make it to the top of the mound," John Grotzinger of Caltech, project scientist for Curiosity's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, told reporters yesterday. "But that's way into the future." [1]. Will it climb to the top? No. Especially now with damage to the wheels. Besides, it seems the top of the mountain is not as interesting as the lower and medium parts that exhibit sediments by lake water. Cheers, Rowan Forest (talk) 16:15, 14 November 2018 (UTC)
Thank you, Rowan. That's exactly the kind of stuff I was interested in learning.
-- the IP formerly known as 75.163.180.231 2601:281:CC00:5FD:393B:8D73:8A07:88D4 (talk) 00:37, 10 March 2019 (UTC)
Ah yes. Water on Mars to the rescue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.234.100.169 (talk) 18:02, 17 February 2019 (UTC)

Self portraits

I'm interested in how the self portraits were taken. I can't see any arms/booms reaching out to the edge of the image that could hold the camera.  Stepho  talk  21:13, 15 July 2019 (UTC)

The robotic arm has a wide-angle camera. Each published selfie is actually a composite made from several pictures. They chose to not show the arm. Rowan Forest (talk) 00:55, 16 July 2019 (UTC)
Thank you very much, that explains a lot. It also explains why the MAHLI camera and half of its arm is missing from the photo but still reflected in the mast camera lense. From your clues I was able to find this very detailed explanation http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2015/08191059-curiosity-self-portrait-history-belly-pan.html .  Stepho  talk  11:48, 16 July 2019 (UTC)