Yesterday the geologist and planetary scientist Bruce Murray died. He was director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and one of the founders of the Planetary Society. Born on November 30, 1931, he earned a Ph.D. in geology at MIT and gave a huge contribution to several space missions such as some of the Mariner series and the Voyager 1 and 2.
The Mars Rover Curiosity started using for the first time its software for the autonomous navigation, or autonav. It allows the rover to decide on its own where to go while maintaining its security. In this case, when it uses it it will decide which detours it will take to get to Mount Sharp, the final destination of its mission.
During this month, the Mars Rover Curiosity has also kept on taking photographs not only of Mars but also of its sky. In particular, on August 17 it used its Mast Camera (MastCam) to take a series of photographs of a solar eclipse in which Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons, has moved completely in front of the Sun.
