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A rendering of the rover Curiosity on Mars. (NASA/JPL / August 5, 2012) |
Now that Curiosity is safe on Martian soil, the largest and most advanced machine NASA ever sent to another planet needs power to get its 2,000-pound frame moving.
To get it going, the rover will be powered by an advanced nuclear power system, called the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, developed by Hamilton Sundstrand Rocketdyne engineers in Canoga Park.
The generator is crucial to the $2.5-billion Mars mission, which centered around Curiosity trekking through the Gale Crater toward a central mountain. The rover also needs power for its many instruments aimed at finding out whether Mars is -- or ever has been -- hospitable to life. Its main mission is slated to last 23 months, or one Martian year.
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Larry Trager, general manager at Hamilton Sundstrand Rocketdyne, said the generator could power the rover for years to come.
