Curiosity rover surveys Martian atmosphere and geology

E-ISSN： 2324-9250|93|46|466-467

ISSN： 0096-3941

Source： Eos Transactions, Vol.93, Iss.46, 2012-11, pp. : 466-467

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Abstract

Three months after its dramatic landing on the surface of Mars, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), known as Curiosity, is beginning to produce a variety of initial results, scientists reported at the Geological Society of America meeting in Charlotte, N. C., on 5 November. Curiosity landed on 6 August 2012 in Gale Crater, an impact crater 155 kilometers in diameter. During the next 2 years, the mission will characterize the geologic setting and search for signs of past habitable conditions. Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) noted that Curiosity's instruments have begun sampling the Martian atmosphere. On 2 November, NASA announced that the mission's first atmospheric measurements had not detected any clear evidence of methane in the Martian atmosphere.