Curiosity log 15 (playing in Rocknest)

Curiosity is already near the area known as Glenelg. On October 2 (Sun 56) arrive at the area known as Rocknest, where there are some small sand bank. Curiosity will spend two or three weeks at this site while making the first sample collection with robot arm systems. As of today, our rover has already surpassed the 400 runs, which is not bad.

Launch GPS IIF-3 (Delta IV M +)

On Thursday, October 4 at 12:10 UTC, the company ULA (United Launch Alliance) launched a Delta IV M + (4, 2) from SLC-37 slope to Cape Canaveral. On board was the GPS IIF-3 satellite (USA-239) global positioning system GPS. Apparently, the motor RL-10 of the second stage experienced some problems during power up.

The asteroid will tell about the origin of the solar system

Tiny pieces of rock the size of 50-100 microns - thinner than a human hair - were taken from the asteroid Itokawa Japanese Hayabusa mission. They were carefully extracted by experts from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester.

This case was the first, when the samples collected on the asteroid were returned to Earth. Only 70 samples were provided for international analysis, and seven of them - to study at this university.