Mission accomplished: NASA confirms the arrival of Curiosity Mars


El robot explorador más sofisticado hasta el momento llegó al cráter Gale. En una misión que durará dos años, su objetivo más ambicioso será evaluar las condiciones del planeta rojo para albergar vida humana. 


"Llegada confirmada", afirmó un miembro de la misión de control en el Jet Propulsion Laboratory de la NASA, en Pasadena (California, oeste de Estados Unidos), mientras celebraban. Finalmente, y tras viajar 567 millones de kilómetros, el vehiculo explorador Curiosity desembarcó en Marte, en lo que significó el comienzo de una misión de dos años en busca de pruebas de vida. 


Esta gesta de carácter legendario tiene 4 objetivos primordiales: determinar si el planeta albergó vida en algún momento, realizar mediciones climatológicas continuas y estudios geológicos de la superficie y, lo más trascendente: precisar las condiciones de habitabilidad del planeta para fundar los pilares de una civilización humana.

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"The Seven Minutes of Terror has turned into the Seven Minutes of Triumph," said NASA Associate Administrator for Science John Grunsfeld. "My immense joy in the success of this mission is matched only by overwhelming pride I feel for the women and men of the mission's team."

Curiosity returned its first view of Mars, a wide-angle scene of rocky ground near the front of the rover. More images are anticipated in the next several days as the mission blends observations of the landing site with activities to configure the rover for work and check the performance of its instruments and mechanisms.

"Today, the wheels of Curiosity have begun to blaze the trail for human footprints on Mars," declared NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "Curiosity, the most sophisticated rover ever built, is now on the surface of the Red Planet, where it will seek to answer age-old questions about whether life ever existed on Mars -- or if the planet can sustain life in the future,"

Confirmation of Curiosity's successful landing came in communications relayed by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter and received by the Canberra, Australia, antenna station of NASA's Deep Space Network.

Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking elemental composition of rocks from a distance. The rover will use a drill and scoop at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, then sieve and parcel out these samples into analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover.

To handle this science toolkit, Curiosity is twice as long and five times as heavy as Spirit or Opportunity. The Gale Crater landing site places the rover within driving distance of layers of the crater's interior mountain. Observations from orbit have identified clay and sulfate minerals in the lower layers, indicating a wet history.

"This is an amazing achievement, made possible by a team of scientists and engineers from around the world and led by the extraordinary men and women of NASA and our Jet Propulsion Laboratory," added Bolden. " President Obama has laid out a bold vision for sending humans to Mars in the mid-2030's, and today's landing marks a significant step toward achieving this goal."

Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA