New Online Exploring Tools Bring NASA's Journey to Mars to New Generation
On the three-year anniversary of the Mars landing of NASA's Curiosity rover, NASA is unveiling two new online tools, inviting the public to help with its journey to Mars.
On the three-year anniversary of the Mars landing of NASA's Curiosity  rover, NASA is unveiling two new online tools that open the mysterious terrain  of the Red Planet to a new generation of explorers, inviting the public to help  with itsjourney to Mars.Mars Trekis a free, Web-based application that  provides high-quality, detailed visualizations of the planet using real data  from 50 years of NASA exploration and allowing astronomers, citizen scientists  and students to study the Red Planet's features.Experience Curiosityallows  viewers to journey along with the one-ton rover on its Martian expeditions. The  program simulates Mars in 3-D based on actual data from Curiosity and NASA's  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), giving users first-hand experience in a day  in the life of a Mars rover.A NASA team already is using Mars Trek to aid in the selection of  possible landing sites for the agency'sMars 2020  rover,and the application will be used as part of  NASA's newly announced process to examine and select candidate sites for the  first human exploration mission to Mars in the 2030s."This tool has opened my eyes as to how we should first approach  roaming on another world, and now the public can join in on the fun," said  Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington. "Our robotic scientific explorers are paving the way, making  great progress on the journey to Mars. Together, humans and robots will pioneer  Mars and the solar system."Mars Trek has interactive maps, which include the ability to overlay a  range of data sets generated from instruments aboard spacecraft orbiting Mars,  and analysis tools for measuring surface features. Standard keyboard gaming  controls are used to maneuver the users across Mars' surface, and 3-D  printer-exportable topography allows users to print physical models of surface  features.Mars Trek was developed by NASA'sLunar Mapping and Modeling Project, which  provides mission planners, lunar scientists and the public with analysis and  data visualization tools for our moon.Experience Curiosity also uses real science data to create a realistic  and game-ready rover model based entirely on real mechanisms and executed  commands. Users can manipulate the rover's tools and view Mars through each of  its cameras."We've done a lot of heavy 3-D processing to make Experience  Curiosity work in a browser. Anybody with access to the Web can take a journey  to Mars," said Kevin Hussey, manager of the Visualization Applications and  Development group at NASA'sJet Propulsion Laboratoryin Pasadena, California,  which manages and operates the Curiosity rover.Curiosity's adventures on the Red Planet began in the early morning  hours of Aug. 6, 2012, Eastern time (evening of Aug. 5, Pacific time), when a  landing technique called the sky-crane maneuver deposited the rover in the  96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater. From there, the rover began  investigating its new home, discovering it had landed near an ancient lakebed  sprinkled with organic material. Billions of years ago, fresh water would have  flowed into this lake, offering conditions favorable for microbial life."At three years old, Curiosity already has had a rich and  fascinating life. This new program lets the public experience some of the rover's  adventures first-hand," said Jim Erickson, the project manager for the  mission at JPL.NASA has been on Mars for five decades with robotic  explorers, and August traditionally has been a busy  month for exploration of the planet. Viking 2 was put into orbit around Mars 39  years ago on Aug. 7, 1976, making NASA's second successful landing on the  Martian surface weeks later. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched on Aug.  12, 2005, and still is in operation orbiting Mars. And Tuesday, Aug. 4, marked  the eight-year anniversary of the launch of the Phoenix mission to the north  polar region of the Red Planet.NASA's orbiters and rovers have changed the way we look at  Mars and enable continued scientific discoveries that one day will pave the way  for astronauts to explore the Red Planet.More information about  NASA's journey to Mars is available online at:https://www.nasa.gov/topics/journeytomarsFor more information about Curiosity, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/mslhttp://mars.nasa.gov/mslTo download and print a 3-D model of Curiosity, go to:http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/mars-rover-curiosity