The Curiosity Rover was launched on this date in 2011. Here are 10 things you might not know about it:
It’s about the size of a small SUV, or if you prefer, 2.9 m (9 ft 6 in) long by 2.7 m (8 ft 10 in) wide by 2.2 m (7 ft 3 in) in height.
It weighs 899 kg (1,982 lbs in Earth gravity; 743 lbs in Mars gravity).
Its official name is The Mars Science Laboratory.
However, NASA held a contest for students to give it a nickname. The name Curiosity was put forward by Clara Ma, aged 12, from Kansas. Her entry was chosen after she wrote: “Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder.” Her prize was a trip to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where she signed her name directly onto the rover as it was being assembled.
Curiosity landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, and as it did, it tested a completely new landing method. The spacecraft descended on a parachute, then during the final seconds before landing, the landing system fired rockets to allow it to hover while a tether lowered Curiosity to the surface. The rover landed on its wheels, the tether was cut, and the landing system flew off to crash-land a safe distance away. NASA doesn't know the location of the jetpack lander.
It carries an array of scientific instruments including 17 cameras, a laser which can vaporise rock, a drill, a wire brush for cleaning rocks. It also has on board a microchip containing the names of 1.2 million people who sent their names in to NASA from 2009 to 2011.
The iPhone 4S has four times the processing power of Curiosity.
Its mission is to seek out signs that life could have existed on Mars at some stage. It hunts for special rocks that formed in water and/or have signs of organics.
Curiosity’s power system has far exceeded its operational lifespan. It was meant to last for one Martian year or 687 Earth days. It has been going for more than eight Earth years.
On August 6, 2013, Curiosity audibly played "Happy Birthday to you" in honour of the first anniversary of its Martian landing. It was the first time a song was played on another planet and the first time music was transmitted between two planets.
Character birthday
Sylvia Brightman, political aide to Innovian president Jack Ward, with whom she is having a secret affair. She is recognisable by her platinum white hair, cut in a severe style. Power Blaster, Multi-Girl and Burdock have all worked for her. She appears in Secrets and Skies.
Secrets and Skies
Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.
Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.
Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.
Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.
Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.
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