Taking the Martian air

The Curiosity rover has taken a sniff of the Martian atmosphere during the latest phase of instrument testing. During a media teleconference broadcast on September 6th, Joy Crisp, the Curiosity deputy project scientist based at the Jet Propulsion Lab, told listeners that atmospheric measurements were taken on September 2nd and 3rd by the tunable laser spectrometer, which is part of the SAM instrument aboard the rover. "From that, the SAM instrument is working very well and the team is still busy assessing that measurement," said Crisp.

All of the other instruments have had successful checkouts so far and the characterisation activity phase of the mission is continuing. The latest tests follow several days of travel during which Curiosity has driven a total of 358 feet across the Gale Crater from Bradbury Landing towards Glenelg, the first major destination where tests on Martian rock will begin.