Curiosity Rover Milestone

[Hooked on Huskers]

I'm a spacecraft freak. Always have been. Kinda like Scotty in original Star Trek.

In August 6th, Curiosity celebrates 1 year on Red Planet and last week, 1 mile total distance. Top speed was only 0.09 mph. Powered by ancient computer, 132 MHz RAD750 CPU (approx. the same as Pentium1 or slower), 256kb EEPROM, 256mb RAM, 2gb Flash, VxWorks OS (I think similar to Linux).

Driving distances on Mars or the Moon:

Lunokhod2 Lunar rover (USSR): 23 miles

Opportunity Mars rover: 22 miles (still working)

Apollo 17 Lunar Rover: 22 miles (also known as Moon Buggy)

Apollo 15 Lunar Rover: 17.5 miles (top speed record: 11 mph)

Apollo 16 Lunar Rover: 16.5 miles

Lunokhod1 Lunar rover: 6.5 miles

Spirit Mars rover: 5 miles (I thought much more than 5 miles)

Curiosity Mars rover: 1 mile

 

[rawhide]

Bad time to mention ACA/Healthcare.gov

One of the members of my church works at JPL in Pasadena. Astrophysicist, who can tell some great stories about our space program but his main interest is Astronomy.