The AIRS instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this infrared image System 93L was strengthening into tropical depression 8, and before it became Tropical Storm Gordon. The image was taken on Aug. 15 at 12:53 p.m. EDT, and shows strong bands of thunderstorms (purple) to the north and west of the center of circulation, indicating strengthening. Credit: NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen

NASA has been watching the low pressure system called System 93L for the last week, and late on August 15 it organized into Tropical Depression 8, then Tropical Storm Gordon. NOAA's GOES-13 satellite captured a visible image of tiny Tropical Storm Gordon after sunrise on August 16.

System 93L started out on August 10 as a tropical wave and associated low pressure area, that moved off the African coast into the eastern Atlantic. Over the last six days it moved west across the Atlantic Ocean and had its ups and downs in terms of organization and development. On August 15 at 5 p.m. EDT, it strengthened into the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season's eighth tropical depression, just 15 hours after infrared data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite identified a strong banding of thunderstorms around the center of circulation and northwest of the center. That banding was an indication of organization and strengthening.

Aqua's AIRS instrument captured another infrared image System 93L as it was strengthening into tropical depression 8, and before it became Tropical Storm Gordon. The image was taken on Aug. 15 at 12:53 p.m. EDT, and showed strong bands of thunderstorms to the north and west of the center of circulation where cloud tops were so high into the atmosphere that they were as cold as -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius). When thunderstorms that make up tropical cyclones reach such heights, they likely contain heavy rainfall, and are indicative of a lot of strength within the cyclone.

Enlarge

The GOES-13 satellite captured this visible image of newborn Tropical Storm Gordon on Aug. 16 at 1145 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT). Credit: NASA GOES Project

At 5 a.m. EDT, Tropical Storm Gordon had maximum sustained wind near 40 mph (65 kmh), and some strengthening is expected, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). In fact, the NHC noted that Gordon could become a hurricane over the weekend of August 18-19 because the storm is expected to track over warm water and encounter very little wind shear.

The center of Tropical Storm Gordon was located about 585 miles (940 km) east of Bermuda, near latitude 32.2 north and longitude 54.8 west. Gordon is moving toward the north-northeast near 14 mph (22 kmh) and is expected to turn northeast and east, heading back into the north central Atlantic Ocean.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

An animation of satellite observations from Aug. 13-16, 2012 shows the birth of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season's eighth tropical depression that strengthens into Tropical Storm Gordon. This visualization was created by the NASA GOES Project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., using observations from NOAA's GOES-13 satellite. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project Center

Link:

NASA sees System 93L explode into Tropical Storm Gordon

The international 2012 Humans in Space Youth Art Competition invites students ages 10-18 to express their ideas about the future of human space exploration through visual, literary, musical or digital art.

Artwork submissions will be judged on creativity, skill and demonstration of meaning relevant to expressing "How will humans use science and technology to explore space, and what mysteries will we uncover?"

Winning art will be showcased at displays and multimedia performances worldwide from 2013 to 2014, as well as in an online gallery. Submissions must be received by Oct. 21, 2012.

For additional information and a complete list of guidelines, visit http://www.humansinspaceart.org.

Inquiries about this opportunity should be directed to Jancy McPhee at jancy.c.mcphee@nasa.gov.

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NASA Announces Next Opportunity for CubeSat Space Missions

(SPACE.com) HOUSTON -- As NASA has readied its retired space shuttles to set sail for their museum homes, the agency has also been quietly preparing its least-known orbiter vehicle to stay in place.

The SAIL -- or Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory -- is set to become the newest stop on tours of the Johnson Space Center here this fall.

The once fully-functional space shuttle simulator, which was used throughout the 30-year program to develop and test the flight software for each of the 135 missions, was designated an honorary part of the fleet with its own orbiter vehicle (OV) number.

Space shuttle Discovery, which is now on display at the Smithsonian in Virginia, was also referred to by NASA as OV-103. Enterprise, the original shuttle prototype, which is now exhibited at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, was similarly OV-101.

Endeavour, which next month will be flown to Los Angeles for the California Science Center, was designated OV-105. And Atlantis, which is scheduled to arrive this November at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was OV-104.

The SAIL was designated OV-095. Although it was never space-worthy, from the perspective of its flight computers, the simulated missions that it 'flew' might have just as well been in orbit. [NASA's Most Memorable Shuttle Missions]

Skeleton of a space shuttle

Filling a couple of floors inside Building 16 at the Johnson Space Center, OV-095 doesn't look like its sister ships.

Although it has a fully-accurate flight deck and is laid out to have a payload bay and aft section, the SAIL's lack of wings, tail -- and for that matter, walls -- leaves exposed the mock space shuttle's wires, switches, crawl spaces, steep stairs and ledges.

That setup worked well for the more than three decades when the SAIL was an operational laboratory, but was not ideal as a bustling tour stop. NASA needed to make the SAIL safe for visitors while keeping the historical integrity of the facility intact.

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NASA's hidden space shuttle opens in Houston

Who says engineers aren't hip? The men and women who landed NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on the Red Planet are so renowned they are now the subject of a hilarious spoof video that is making viral waves.

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'We're NASA and We Know It': Hilarious Music Video Spoofs Mars Rover Team

NASA's "Mighty Eagle" a roboticprototype for new landers to explore the moon and beyond has passed a major test with its first successful free flight, the space agency announced this week.

Without using a tether (a first for the vehicle), the lander took off, hovered at about 33 feet (10 meters), flew sideways, and landed safely on its prescribed target,video of the the Aug. 8 test flight shows. The entire flight lasted 34 seconds and took place at NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

NASA plans to use the Mighty Eagle to develop new robotic landers to send to the moon, near-Earth asteroids and other airless celestial bodies

The three-legged spacecraft is 4 feet (1.2 m) tall and 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter. It weighs 700 pounds (317 kilograms) when filled with its fuel, which is made up of 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide, according to NASA.

After the lander's previous round of testing in 2011, engineers upgraded the guidance controls on the lander's camera, improving its autonomous capabilities, NASA officials said. In tests scheduled through September, engineers plan to get the lander flying and hovering autonomously at up to 100 feet (30 m).

"These lander tests provide the data necessary to expand our capabilities to go to other destinations," Greg Chavers, engineering manager at the Marshall Center, said in an Aug. 13 statement. "It also furthers our knowledge of the engineering components needed for future human and robotic missions."

The Mighty Eagle's successful untethered flight came one day before another NASA lander prototype's fiery test failure at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In that Aug. 9 test flight, engineers with NASA's Project Morpheus based at the Johnson Space Center in Houston attempted to make the firstuntethered flight of the Morpheus lander over a mock moonscape.

A failure caused the Morpheus lander to flip over and explode shortly after liftoff. Project Morpheus officials are studying the failure and plan to upgrade a second Morpheus lander for future tests.

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NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' Planetary Lander Passes Big Test Flight

Should NASA send people to Mars? Build a moon base? Maybe unleash a fleet of awesome robotic probes to explore the solar system?

You can now offer advice on what NASAs plans should be. The National Research Council is conducting an independent study on NASAs strategic direction, soliciting comments from experts in science, technology, and space policy and theyre also asking the public to get involved.

In their public comment section, the NRC will ask what you think NASAs vision, budget, and international collaboration program should be. But hurry the public commenting period ends tomorrow, Aug. 17!

As stated in their 2011 Strategic Plan, NASAs current vision is to reach for new heights and reveal the unknown, so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind, and its mission is to drive advances in science, technology, and exploration to enhance knowledge, education, innovation, economic vitality, and stewardship of Earth.

This vague wording translates into some specific directives, such as extending the life of the International Space Station, supporting the commercial space industry, and continuing NASAs own manned spaceflight program and robotic exploration of the solar system.

The National Research Councils evaluation will look at all aspects of NASAs plans, including its relevance to national priorities, the viability of its goals under current budget pressures, and its structural organization and efficiency.

Image: NASA/Ben Cooper

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Your Chance to Tell NASA What It Should Do

'We're NASA and We Know It' is a slickly produced rap video that mocks, and celebrates, the landing of the Mars rover Curiosity and the 'outside-the-box' team at JPL that made it happen.

The folks at JPL have arrived. No, not just because the NASA center's best and brightest put the Mars rover Curiosity flawlessly on the surface of the Red Planet. But because they looked so cool doing it. So cool, in fact, that there is now a rap video on youtube lampooning their performance: "We're NASA and We Know It."

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The video is a tongue-in-cheek high-five to the group in pale-blue polo shirts who sat in mission control on a southern California foothill the evening of Aug. 5, watching as helplessly as the rest of the world as Curiosity entered its final "seven minutes of terror" en route to the surface of Mars.

The slickly produced video featureswhat looks to be seven 20-somethings including a bikini-clad woman with abox over her head. If there's any message in there at all, it might be something like: If you want to do some really cool stuff in space, and you've got the smarts, and you don't want to wait until you're about to collect Social Security to play a key role, then Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the place to be.

OK, a bit overstated, but look at the mix of faces in that control room the real one, not the cute video version or the hair styles. When was the last time you saw a red-and-blue-tinted Mohawk hairstyle poking above a console in Houston? Or the official pass-around of the peanut jarsto mark the end of a key part of a mission? And where else within the NASA network would a set of wheels be designed to leave aresearch center'sinitials in Morse Code in the dust as a rover rolls along the surface of another planet?

Yes, spaceflight is risky. And it uses very expensive hardware. But somehow the folks at JPL have managed to find ways to blend the discipline and focus required for space exploration withcreativity and whimsy. At best, it leadsto a unique twist on landing a craft on Mars. At a minimum, it can break the tension that builds after long hours ofworrying about unknowns as a team strives to meet a launch opportunity that comes around but once every 26 months.

And when the Big Eventapproaches, which center is going to produce a slick, sweaty-palms video to prepare the public for Curiosity's seven minutes of terror? Or cook up a deal with Microsoft to develop an Xbox game that allows the player, using a generous amount of body English, to guide the rover through those seven minutes and with additional, more-involved video games under consideration? Yep, that's JPL.

What accounts for the difference between JPL and NASA's other centers?

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'We're NASA and We Know It' video spoofs JPL Mars team. How cool is that?

Two space shuttles traded places at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Thursday (Aug. 16) for what was planned to be the final multiple shuttle shuffle of the retired program.

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NASA Space Shuttles Meet Nose-to-Nose for Final Time

NASA has selected a team led by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation of Boulder, Colo., for a technology demonstration of a high performance "green" propellant alternative to the highly toxic fuel hydrazine. With this award, NASA opens a new era of innovative and non-toxic green fuels that are less harmful to our environment, have fewer operational hazards, and decrease the complexity and cost of launch processing.

Today's use of hydrazine fuel for rockets, satellites and spacecraft is pervasive. Hydrazine is an efficient propellant and can be stored for long periods of time, but it also is highly corrosive and toxic. NASA is seeking new, non-toxic high performance green propellants that could be safely and widely used by rocketeers, ranging from government to industry and academia. Green propellants include liquid, solid, mono- propellant, which use one fuel source, or bi-propellants, which use two, and hybrids that offer safer handling conditions and lower environmental impact than current fuels.

"High performance green propellant has the potential to revolutionize how we travel to, from and in space," said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA's Space Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "An effective green rocket fuel would dramatically reduce the cost and time for preparing and launching space missions while decreasing pollution and harm to our environment."

Following a solicitation and peer-review selection process, NASA chose the Green Propellant Infusion Mission proposal and a team lead by Ball and co-investigators from the Aerojet Corporation in Redmond, Washington, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at the Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico, NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the new mission.

NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission is expected to be developed and flown in approximately three years. The Space Technology Program will provide $45 million for the mission, with some additional cost-sharing by mission co-investigators.

This demonstration will bridge the gap between technology development and use of green propellant. The team will develop and fly a high performance green propellant, demonstrating and characterizing in space the functionality of the integrated propulsion system. Such a demonstration will provide the aerospace community with a new system-level capability for future missions.

Maturing a space technology, such as a revolutionary green propellant, to mission readiness through relevant environment testing and demonstration is a significant challenge from a cost, schedule and risk perspective. NASA's Technology Demonstration Missions Program performs this function, bridging the gap between laboratory confirmation of a technology and its inital use on an operational mission.

More information: For more information about NASA's Space Technology Program and Technology Demonstration Missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct

Provided by NASA

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NASA goes green: NASA selects green propellant technology demonstration mission

Photo: NASA

Many astronomy fans are focused on the Perseid meteor showers this week and pilots at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center are no different. But rather than waiting for nightfall and simply watching the streaks of light across the sky, the pilots are flying a Cold War-era spy plane on several missions this week to capture samples of the cosmic dust as it settles through the stratosphere.

The airplane is a civilian version of the Lockheed U-2 spy plane known as an ER-2 (Earth Resources). The aircraft have been used by NASA as a high-altitude science platform for decades, which is actually one of the cover stories used by the airplane maker and CIA when the airplane was originally being developed. This week one of NASAs ER-2s will fly three separate eight-hour missions at more than 65,000 feet to collect dust from the Perseid meteor showers.

The airplane is equipped with collectors under each wing (the collectors are not in the picture above) and have clam-shell doors that can be controlled by the pilot. Once at altitude the pilot opens the doors, which exposes surfaces that have been coated with a sticky, sterile silicon oil that collects material hopefully Perseid meteor dust from the lower stratosphere.

Once the mission is complete, the doors on the samplers are closed and the ER-2 descends through the atmosphere, making its way back to Edwards Air Force Base in southern California where the Dryden Flight Research Center is located. The samples are sent to the Johnson Space Center in Houston where they are identified and cataloged. Perseid samples collected by the ER-2 are then made available to scientists around the world.

The ER-2 Perseid flights have been taking place since the 1980s. The NASA aircraft have also participated in a wide range of scientific missions including a wide range of remote sensing and mapping projects around the world, hurricane research and other atmospheric sampling programs including some of the original ozone depletion measurements over Antarctica.

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NASA Pilots Capture Perseid Meteor Dust at 65,000 Feet

After a four-day software upgrade, NASA's Curiosity is ready to continue its 2-year search for Martian microbes. In about a week, the rover will go for its first test drive. Once it begins moving, it will be able to travel about the length of a football field daily.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has survived its four-day "brain transplant" in fine shape and is now gearing up for its first Red Planet drive, scientists announced today (Aug. 14).

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Engineers upgraded Curiosity's flight software over the weekend, switching the rover's main and backup computers from landing mode to surface mode. The four-day overhaul temporarily halted Curiosity's science and instrument-checkout work, which had begun almost immediately after therover touched downinside Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5.

But those activities can resume later today, on the rover's ninth full Martian day or Sol 9, in mission lingo becauseCuriosity's brain surgerywent well, researchers said.

"It came off pretty much without a hitch," Curiosity mission systems manager Mike Watkins, of NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters today. "All four days went as planned, so we're now 'go' to continue our checkout activities."

As part of the checkout process, Curiosity's handlers hope to turn the rover's wheels for the first time in the next week or so, Watkins added. [Gallery: Curiosity's 1st Photos of Mars]

"We're going to test the steering actuators on Sol 13, and then we are going to take it out for a test drive here probably around Sol 15," Watkins said. "We're going to do a short drive of, you know, a couple of meters, and then maybe turn and back up."

Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL), which seeks to determine if the Red Planet could ever havehosted microbial life. To get at this question, Curiosity will analyze Martian rocks and soil with 10 different science instruments for the next two years or more.

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NASA: Mars rover Curiosity brain surgery complete (+video)

Synopsis - Aug 14, 2012

General Information

Solicitation Number: TTO1025 Posted Date: Aug 14, 2012 FedBizOpps Posted Date: Aug 14, 2012 Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No Original Response Date: Dec 31, 2012 Current Response Date: Dec 31, 2012 Classification Code: 99 -- Miscellaneous NAICS Code: 927110 Set-Aside Code:

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Langley Research Center, Mail Stop 12, Industry Assistance Office, Hampton, VA 23681-0001

Description

NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA solicits interest from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

NASA Langley has created a new class of materials based on depositing nanometer-sized metal particles onto carbon allotropes. The method is scalable and relatively simple, and allows for control over the size and distribution of the metal particles in the substrate, adjusting the surface area to optimize specific thermal or electrical properties of the material. One promising nanocomposite material created consists of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) decorated with metal particles dispersed in a polymer matrix. Ribbons, tubes, and moldings of the nanocomposite were found to have novel intrinsic electrical characteristics that enable tunable dielectric constants with low loss factors. The decoupling and independent control of the two fundamental parameters offer a class of materials with the potential for finely tailored electronic properties. The novel methods enable materials that show promise for a variety of applications in electronics, communications, catalysis, and optics.

To express interest in this opportunity, please respond to Sean Sullivan, Research Triangle International (RTI), at: NASA Langley Research Center, 17 West Taylor St., Mail Stop 218, Building 1212, Room 110 Hampton, Virginia, E-mail: Sean.D.Sullivan@NASA.gov, or phone: 757-864-5055. Please indicate the date and title of the FBO notice and include your company and contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at http://technology.nasa.gov/ .

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NASA Technology Transfer Opportunity: Decorated Carbon Nanotubes for Novel Materials With Tailorable Electrical ...

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Dryden Flight Research Center has released a solicitation entitled "NASA Announcement of Flight Opportunities (AFO) for Payloads Maturing Crosscutting Technologies that Advance Multiple Future Space Missions to Flight Readiness Status." The current solicitation cycle, AFO #5, provides access to flights on parabolic flights, suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles (sRLV), and high-altitude balloons.

Applications are due on or before 5:30 PM Eastern Time September 21, 2012, and selections will be announced in November 2012 (target). The solicitation is available by opening the NASA Research Opportunities home page at http://nspires.nasaprs.com , selecting "Solicitations," then selecting "Open Solicitations," and, selecting "NOCT110 Announcement of Flight Opportunities." To go directly to the solicitation page on NSPIRES click here.

NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) seeks to mature towards flight readiness status crosscutting technologies that perform relevant environment testing and advance multiple future space missions. To facilitate this goal, NASA is providing access to certain flight opportunities available to the Agency, on a no-exchange-of-funds basis, to entities that have technology payloads meeting specified criteria. The payloads may be exposed to a near-zero or reduced gravity environment by flying on aircraft that provide parabolic flight trajectories and on sRLVs that are potentially capable of flying to altitudes above 100 km. For flight tests that do not require microgravity, but do require the temperature, pressure and atmospheric conditions of high altitudes, balloon flights are available. Refer to http://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/ platforms for specific information on vehicle and flight characteristics.

This call is open to all individuals and organizations, U.S. and non-U.S. Such organizations may include educational institutions, industry, nonprofit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), other Government agencies, and partnerships between such entities.

Science payloads will not be evaluated under this announcement. Prospective responders with science payloads are encouraged to respond to open solicitations for science from the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and Human Exploration and Operations Research Mission Directorate (HEOMD).

All applications must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an authorized organizational representative (AOR). Potential applicants and proposing organizations are urged to access the electronic proposal system well in advance of the application due date to familiarize themselves with its structure and to enter the requested information. Note that it may require several weeks for non-U.S. organizations to obtain the registrations needed to submit a proposal.

Comments and questions may be sent via e-mail to peer-review-afo@nasaprs.com. Responses to inquiries will be answered by e-mail and may also be included in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document located on the NSPIRES page associated with the solicitation; anonymity of persons/institutions who submit questions will be preserved.

Visit us on the web: http://flightopportunities.nasa.gov

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/nasafo

Subscribe to our mailing list: https://lists.nasa.gov/mailman/listinfo/flightopportunities-news

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NASA Announcement of Flight Opportunities #5 Now Open

Artist's impression of NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbiting the giant asteroid Vesta. The depiction of Vesta is based on images obtained by Dawn's framing cameras. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Published: Aug. 14, 2012 at 5:49 PM

PASADENA, Calif., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- A NASA spacecraft on a mission to study the giant asteroid Vesta and dwarf planet Ceres has powered down part of a guidance system, the space agency reported.

A reaction wheel, part of a system that helps the spacecraft point precisely, was shut down automatically by the spacecraft with data beamed back to Earth suggesting the wheel had developed excessive friction, a release from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., reported Monday.

Another Dawn reaction wheel had been shut down in similar circumstances in June 2010, the release said.

During its flight to Vesta, the JPL team demonstrated they could, if necessary, complete the second part of the mission, the cruise to Ceres, without the use of reaction wheels.

Vesta, one of the largest asteroids in the solar system, and Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the inner solar system, are both located in the so-called asteroid belt, roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Dawn has finished it science mission at Vesta, which it has been orbiting since July 15, 2011, and is slowly moving away for the journey to Ceres, using its thrusters to both move and to orient itself toward Earth for communications, JPL said.

Aside from the reaction wheel issue, the rest of the spacecraft is otherwise healthy, the Dawn team said.

"The Vesta mission has been spectacularly successful, and we are looking forward to the exciting Ceres mission ahead of us," Robert Mase, Dawn project manager, said.

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NASA asteroid mission has guidance problem

NASA's newest rover Curiosity has yet to make its first move on Mars, but scientists said Tuesday they are already mapping out possible driving routes to a Martian mountain.

Since landing in Gale Crater near the equator last week, the nuclear-powered rover has been busy getting a head-to-wheel health checkup while parked. It touched down about 5 miles from Mount Sharp where signatures of past water have been spotted at the base.

Its ultimate goal is to scale the lower slopes in search of the chemical building blocks of life to determine whether the environment was favorable for microbial life.

The team is "kind of itching to move at this point," said deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $2.5 billion mission.

Scientists have been poring over pictures of the landing site snapped by Curiosity and spacecraft circling overhead. The pebble-strewn terrain where the rover landed appeared easy to traverse but the landscape gets more rugged the closer to Mount Sharp.

The team identified half a dozen potential paths through buttes and mesas that are reminiscent of the southwestern United States. Vasavada estimated it'll take a year to make the trip to the mountain driving about the length of a football field a day. Along the way, the six-wheel rover will make pit stops to study interesting rocks and scoop up soil.

Before Curiosity can explore, it has to go through a laborious check of its tools and systems. As the most complex spacecraft sent to Mars, it landed using a novel routine that involved lowering it to the surface by cables.

It just completed an upgrade to its computers and planned to take its first, albeit short, test drive in several days. Engineers still have to test the rover's robotic arm and drill later this month before giving the keys to scientists.

"We're trying to just keep our eyes on the prize and finish these checkouts and then get going," said Vasavada.

Link:

NASA 'Itching to Move,' Maps Course for Curiosity

After a four-day software upgrade, NASA's Curiosity is ready to continue its 2-year search for Martian microbes. In about a week, the rover will go for its first test drive. Once it begins moving, it will be able to travel about the length of a football field daily.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has survived its four-day "brain transplant" in fine shape and is now gearing up for its first Red Planet drive, scientists announced today (Aug. 14).

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Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

Engineers upgraded Curiosity's flight software over the weekend, switching the rover's main and backup computers from landing mode to surface mode. The four-day overhaul temporarily halted Curiosity's science and instrument-checkout work, which had begun almost immediately after therover touched downinside Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5.

But those activities can resume later today, on the rover's ninth full Martian day or Sol 9, in mission lingo becauseCuriosity's brain surgerywent well, researchers said.

"It came off pretty much without a hitch," Curiosity mission systems manager Mike Watkins, of NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., told reporters today. "All four days went as planned, so we're now 'go' to continue our checkout activities."

As part of the checkout process, Curiosity's handlers hope to turn the rover's wheels for the first time in the next week or so, Watkins added. [Gallery: Curiosity's 1st Photos of Mars]

"We're going to test the steering actuators on Sol 13, and then we are going to take it out for a test drive here probably around Sol 15," Watkins said. "We're going to do a short drive of, you know, a couple of meters, and then maybe turn and back up."

Curiosity is the centerpiece of NASA's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission (MSL), which seeks to determine if the Red Planet could ever havehosted microbial life. To get at this question, Curiosity will analyze Martian rocks and soil with 10 different science instruments for the next two years or more.

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NASA: Mars rover Curiosity brain surgery complete

NASA officials today released new images taken by and of the Mars Curiosity rover as it makes its way around Gale Crater.

Several images were captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is flying above the Red Planet. Officials added a color boost to the images in order to highlight the difference in terrain around the crater.

"The landing region is not as colorful as regions to the south, closer to Mount Sharp, where Curiosity will eventually explore. In reality, the blue colors are more gray," NASA said.

The dark blue color at the bottom of the first shot in the slideshow below are dune fields between the rover and Mount Sharp. The rover is located about 980 feet from the bottom of the shot, NASA said.

NASA also put together a 3D image of Gale Crater, with a green dot showing where the rover landed and Mount Sharp in the middle. The photo was put together thanks to images from three Mars orbiters: the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Viking Orbiter imagery.

On Saturday, NASA started a four-day software update that ditched the rover's landing functionality and replaced it with an R10 update, which should allow the rover to drive and make use of its geochemistry lab sampling system.

On Monday, President Barack Obama called the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to congratulate the Curiosity team.

Photographer Andrew Bodrov also stitched together many of the Mars images to create a stunning, 360-degree panorama (below).

PCMag's Meredith Popolo was at the JPL in California covering the Curiosity rover's arrival on Mars. For more, her tour of JPL. Also check out 7 Minutes of Terror: Landing the Mars Curiosity Rover and How to Hack NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover.

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NASA Releases New Stunning Images of Mars Curiosity Rover

In a congratulatory phone call today to the NASA team behind Mars rover Curiosity, President Barack Obama pledged a strong focus on technology and science, as well as revealing his next possible hairdo.

Speaking to mission operation personnel who were in a control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Obama applauded their effort.

"We know you're all hard at work," the president said. "I just wanted to call and say congratulations to the entire team [] and all of JPL," he said, citing specific members of the crew and their position within the mission.

Obama said that he and his administration couldn't be more excited about what NASA has been doing, calling it "mind-boggling" what the agency has been able to accomplish.

Noting the focus his administration has put on improving science, technology, engineering, and math, the president called the Mars rover "incredibly impressive," telling the crowd that, "through your dedicated efforts, Curiosity stuck the landing and captured the attention and imagination of millions of people [] all around the world."

Those people include kids across the country, who may have been inspired by the Red Planet landing and are running to their parents with dreams of being an astronaut, maybe even the first person to walk on Mars, Obama said.

"That kind of inspiration is the by-product of the sort of work you have done," he said.

The Obama administration has its critics inside NASA, however, who were disappointed by budget cuts that tabled some of the space agency's efforts. Last year, NASA retired its space shuttle program to focus on deep-space exploration. NASA astronauts have since been hitching rides on Russian spacecraft to the International Space Station while NASA transitions to trips manned by commercial entities, like SpaceX.

Still, Obama praised the NASA team for being a shining example of what makes the human species so great: curiosity (no pun intended). The yearning to discovery, to know more, and to push the boundaries of knowledge, he said, are commendable traits.

In a nod toward viral sensation Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowski, Obama joked that he's thought about growing a Mohawk himself, "but my team keeps on discouraging me." He earned big laughs in the crowded room, but remained serious about the team's work.

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Obama Calls to Congratulate NASA's Mars Curiosity Team

When President Obama called NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover team Monday morning, he had a small request: “If in fact you make contact with Martians, please let me know right away."

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Obama to NASA: Let Me Know if You Find Aliens [VIDEO]

US President Barack Obama on Monday ribbed scientists behind NASA's roving robot Curiosity, instructing them to let him know right away if they found life on Mars.

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Obama to NASA experts: 'Let me know if you find Martians'