NASA MSL: Curiosity’s Diary - Six Months on Mars [NOOK Book]

On August 6, 2012, NASA’s Curiosity spacecraft completed its 255-day, 354-million-mile journey and plunged down into Mars at Gale Crater, decelerating from 13,200 to 0 mph in 7 dramatic and suspenseful minutes. The whole world watched the thrilling success of the most complicated and precise landing ever undertaken.
What happen after the exhilarating landing?
This book covers Curiosity’s first six months on the red planet from the highly successful landing, through system checks and into the exploration and science of the Martian mission. Best of all it contains over 50 full color photos of the Martian surface.
With its rover named Curiosity, Mars Science Laboratory mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet. Curiosity is designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's "habitability." To find out, the rover carries the biggest, most advanced suite of instruments for scientific studies ever sent to the Martian surface. The rover analyzes samples scooped from the soil and drilled from rocks. The onboard laboratory studies rocks, soils, and the local geologic setting in order to detect chemical building blocks of life on Mars and will assess what the Martian environment was like in the past.
This book contains comprehensive coverage of all aspects of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and its Curiosity rover. There is complete data on the MSL mission, science investigations, historical Mars missions, the Gale Crater landing site, and the radioisotope nuclear power source. Over 50 photos and illustrations, most in full color. Hyperlinked table of contents for easy navigation.
Partial Contents
MSL Introduction
Mars Science Laboratory – Fact Sheet
Mission Overview
Science Payload
MSL Landing Milestones:
Sailing Through the Martian Atmosphere
Curiosity Lands on Mars
NASA's New Mars Rover Sends Higher-Resolution Image
NASA's Curiosity Rover Caught in the Act Landing
New Mars Rover Beams Back Images Showing Its Descent
Curiosity Gets More Looks at its Surroundings; Health Checks Continue
Curiosity Continues Checking Herself Out; Takes Self Portrait
NASA's Curiosity Beams Back A Color 360 of Gale Crater
Curiosity Reveals its First 'Living Color' Mars Surface Panorama
Curiosity Sends High-Resolution Color Images from Gale Crater
Orbiter Views NASA's New Mars Rover In Color
Rover's Laser Instrument Zaps First Martian Rock
NASA Mars Rover Begins Driving At Bradbury Landing
Curiosity Checks Sample of Martian Atmosphere
Rover Completes Longest Drive Yet
NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Begins Arm-Work Phase
NASA Mars Rover Curiosity's Arm Wields Camera Well
Spectrometer Finishes Calibration-Target Reading
Driving and Moon-Watching
NASA Mars Rover Targets Unusual Rock Enroute To First Destination
Longest Drive Yet
Inspection of Rock Target 'Bathurst Inlet'
NASA Mars Curiosity Rover Prepares To Study Martian Soil
First Scoopful A Success
Mars Rock Touched By NASA Curiosity Has Surprises
Mars Soil Sample Delivered for Analysis Inside Rover
NASA Rover's First Soil Studies Help Fingerprint Martian Minerals
NASA Rover Finds Clues to Changes in Mars' Atmosphere
Rover's 'SAM' Lab Instrument Suite Tastes Soil
NASA Rover Providing New Weather And Radiation Data About Mars
Spacecraft Monitoring Martian Dust Storm
Curiosity Rover Explores 'Yellowknife Bay'
NASA's Big Mars Rover Makes First Use Of Its Brush
NASA Mars Rover Preparing To Drill Into First Martian Rock
Mars Rover Curiosity Uses Arm Camera At Night
Curiosity Maneuver Prepares for Drilling