WASHINGTON – A damaged wind sensor is the first setback for the otherwise nearly flawless mission of the Mars Curiosity rover.
NASA managers believe one of two “mini-booms” containing sensors to track weather conditions at Gale Crater might have been damaged during the Aug. 6 descent and landing. The finger-like mini-boom extended out from the rover’s folded mast during landing. Initial investigations found pebbles and small rocks on the rover’s deck after landing, presumably part of the rocket plume created as a sky crane lowered the rover to the surface of Mars.
While evidence about the damage remains “circumstantial,” Ashwin Vasavada, MSL deputy project scientist, said Tuesday (Aug. 21) that delicate wires on circuit boards that make up the wind sensor were likely damaged by swirling dust and pebbles. However, another inward-facing weather sensor is “operating perfectly,” said Javier Gomez-Elvira, principal investigator for the weather sensor, the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, or REMS.
A NASA engineer's hands are just below one of the REMS mini-booms in this image. The other mini-boom extends to the left a little farther up the mast. One of the booms facing outward during Curiosity's landing on Mars is believed to have damage by pebbles kicked up by rocket thrusters. (Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech)