Phoning Home: Communicating from Mars

"Phoning Home: Communicating from Mars": come faremo a sapere se Curiosity sarà atterrato sano e salvo sulla superficie di Marte? C'è, infatti, il rischio che qualcosa non vada per il verso giusto!


La NASAJPL ha pubblicato, dodici ore fa, un video esplicativo in cui sinteticamente ci ragguaglia sull'eventualità paventata.


E', infatti, alta la tensione su come andrà l'atterraggio del rover del Mars Science Laboratory!


Incrociamo le dita e facciamo il tifo per Curiosity.


Qui potete leggere il testo integrale della notizia, di cui riporto l'incipit:

"After seven dramatic minutes of entry, descent, and landing, everyone will want to know: did Curiosity survive? There’s a possibility we won’t know. At least not right away. 
During its descent through the atmosphere, Curiosity must switch to a new antenna for each transformation it makes. At each switch, we could lose lock on the signal for a short time. That won’t hurt the rover. It just means we won’t know what’s happening right way. 
Even with a solid signal, the communications link direct to Earth only works during the first half of the rover’s descent. Why? Like Earth, Mars is spinning – and during landing, Curiosity and its landing site will disappear from view, like the sun setting. 
Out of sight equals the end of direct radio contact. 
BUT…NASA has two spacecraft orbiting Mars that can help."