Space Exploration: Mars' Shiny Particles: Curiosity Rover Digs Up Unidentified Material, NASA Scientists Say

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has found some more bright stuff on the Red Planet, scientists say.

The Curiosity rover had dumped out a recent sample of Mars dirt after spotting shiny particles inside the hole dug by the shovel-like scoop on its robotic arm. Mission scientists were concerned that the bright material might be debris from the rover itself, so they ordered Curiosity to toss the Mars sample as a safety precaution, mission managers said in a statement.

As it turns out, the bright particles are actual Martian in origin, they added.
Curiosity is scooping up Mars dirt in a spot called "Rocknest" in preparation to deliver the first samples to a pair of instruments on its car-size body. The rover scooped its first Mars sample on Oct. 7, but further work was delayed when the rover's cameras spotted a bright object —likely a piece of plastic —on the ground in the area.

Scientists had cleared Curiosity to start scooping Mars dirt again ahead of the first sample study when they spotted the new bright material. Curiosity's initial Mars dirt scoops are designed to clean the rover's sampling system.

Read more: Mars' Shiny Particles: Curiosity Rover Digs Up Unidentified Material, NASA Scientists Say

NASA: Why Mars Rover Curiosity Is Likely to Find 'Martians'

Curiosity Rover

With the rover Curiosity now safely on Mars, the world will be seeing lots of video in the coming months and years from the planet's surface.

The six-legged, nuclear-powered $2 billion robot has already sent back images of Gale Crater where it landed, and it's soon on its way toward a 3-mile-high mountain nearby. Scientists — and indeed the entire world — are watching with bated breath to see what Curiosity can find as it spends the next two years digging, sampling, probing, and analyzing on the Red Planet's rocky surface.

Many will also be looking for evidence of life on Mars, and Curiosity may provide it — even if it's not there. NASA footage has long been fodder for UFO buffs and conspiracy theorists who comb through countless photos and hours of video looking for evidence of alien life (or evidence that NASA is covering up evidence of extraterrestrials).

Read more: Why Mars Rover Curiosity Is Likely to Find 'Martians' | Space.com

Outer Space: Mars Rover Curiosity: A Complete Guide to Tagging Along Online

NASA’s Curiosity rover is rolling on Mars and sending back color photos, videos and other information about the red planet, and it’s easier than ever to keep up with all of the latest Mars rover news online. You can follow Curiosity’s adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. If you prefer video, there’s Ustream and YouTube. Traditionalists can get their news the old-fashioned way by checking in with a website, and there’s even a mobile app to keep you posted while you’re on vacation this summer.

To track Curiosity’s adventures online: Curiosity has its own Twitter account (@MarsCuriosity) where NASA tweets photos taken by the rover as well as links to news updates and press conferences. You can also follow NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the NASA laboratory heading up the Curiosity mission.

Check out the Curiosity Facebook page to see past updates about the Mars rover, photos and other information. You can Like the Curiosity page to get updates sent to your news feed or add it to an Interest List for less-frequent updates. You can also Like the pages for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, all the Mars exploration Rovers, and NASA. You should also bookmark NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Web page in your browser. This page is the central place to find the latest unedited photos from Curiosity, mission information, team blogs, and NASA’s Be A Martian app for Android can keep you updated while on the go.

Read more: Mars Rover Curiosity: A Complete Guide to Tagging Along Online | PCWorld

ESA's Mars Express mission welcomes NASA's Curiosity rover

The European mission Mars Express developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) welcomed to the Red Planet the Curiosity rover sent by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ESA’s New Norcia tracking station also picked up signals directly from the NASA mission, 248 million km away at Mars.

The signals recorded by Mars Express during entry and descent of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MLS) rover were successfully received ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The signals received by Mars Express were immediately sent to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Mars Express picked up MSL signals about 10 minutes before it entered the atmosphere, travelling at 21,000 kilometres per hour, in a critical period for the success of the mission. Over the weeks following the arrival of Curiosity to Mars surface, Mars Express and the ESA's ESOC team will make several data relay overflights during the early stages of NASA's mission to Mars.

The European mission will ensure emergency support if requested by the NASA by relaying data from Curiosity to Earth. This represents a major step for the support provided by the European Space Agency in the development of NASA's mission to Mars, a support which is possible thanks to a close collaboration between both agencies.


Read more: Euroalert.net - ESA's Mars Express mission welcomes NASA's Curiosity rover - News about the European Union