NASA successfully landed its Curiosity rover on Mars, with the vehicle”™s power supplied by a system created by the U.S. Department of Energy and United Technologies Corp.
Dangling from cables, Curiosity was lowered to the planet by a rocket “backpack,” landing near the foot of a mountain three miles tall. For the next two years, the rover will investigate whether the region ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life.
Curiosity is powered by Hamilton Sundstrand Rocketdyne”™s Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), which is designed to convert heat from the natural decay of radioactive material into electricity.
Hartford-based UTC acquired Canoga Park, Calif.-based Rocketdyne in 2005, and operated it as a subsidiary of engine maker Pratt & Whitney before reaching a deal this summer to sell Rocketdyne to GenCorp Inc.
UTC had previously identified the MMRTG design team as Hamilton Sundstrand Rocketdyne. UTC merged Windsor Locks-based Hamilton Sundstrand with newly acquired Goodrich to form UTC Aerospace Systems, which is based in Charlotte, N.C., where Goodrich has its headquarters.
Curiosity carries 10 science instruments with a total mass 15 times as large as the science payloads on its predecessor Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Some of the tools are the first of their kind on Mars, such as a laser-firing instrument for checking elemental composition of rocks from a distance. The rover will use a drill and scoop at the end of its robotic arm to gather soil and powdered samples of rock interiors, and will then sieve and parcel out these samples into analytical laboratory instruments inside the rover.
