Mars rover: Wind sensor damaged on Nasa's Curiosity

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

21 August 2012 Last updated at 20:03 GMT

Mars rover: Wind sensor damaged on Nasa's Curiosity

By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

Nasa has reported its first setback in the Curiosity rover mission to Mars.

A sensor on the robot's weather station that takes wind readings has sustained damage.

The mission team stresses this is not a major problem and will merely degrade some measurements - not prevent them.

It is not certain how the damage occurred but engineers suspect surface stones thrown up during Curiosity's rocket-powered landing may have struck sensor circuits and broken the wiring.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19338870

[orpupilofnature57]

1. It would be silly to think all the parts could go

unscathed , it's good that they keep us informed .

[Warpy]

2. I'm still amazed that they hit the planet, at all

and that they got a one ton probe onto the surface in one piece.

I'm not even sure how vitally important a wind sensor would be since they know pretty much what Martian weather is like. While knowing when the wind is picking up might allow them to retract equipment and move the rover into a protected area, surface observation from orbiting satellites would likely tell them as much.

And as the article stated toward the end, there are work-arounds to determine more precisely the local conditions on the surface.

And I'm still waiting for a prairie dog to pop up on one of the pictures. Mars looks just like home.

[Wilms]

3. It was hard looking at the rocks thrown onto the deck and not thinking...

"Ugh!"

[tridim]

4. That blows. nt

[lastlib]

5. ...but they can't tell how much.....n/t