TORONTO

NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory landed on Mars last Monday - representing the second time a Canadian science instrument has been transported to the distant reaches of the Red Planet.

The mission’s rover, called Curiosity, is carrying a device from the Canadian Space Agency called the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer which will probe rocks and soil to see if Mars has ever or could support microbiological forms of life.

“In 2008, Canadians celebrated as NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander mission marked the first time we, as a country, landed Canadian technology on the surface of another planet,” said Steve MacLean, President of the CSA.

“Mars Science Lab is another first for Canada. The first time we reach out and touch Mars, since APXS will investigate the planet’s surface.”

Curiosity, which is the size of as small car, is a mobile science lab with the most advanced set of scientific instruments that has ever been sent to Mars.

It will analyse samples on site to see whether Mars was ever a habitable planet, analyse the climate and geology of the planet, and give a judgement if there is any possibility for human exploration.

APXS is one of 10 science instruments on Curiosity.

Its job is to determine the chemical composition of rocks and soil samples to establish their geological history, see possible alterations by water and perform sample triage for the on-board laboratory instruments.

The APXS will be used throughout the Mars mission, which will last one Mars year which is 687 days on Earth.

An improved version of the instruments on Pathfinder, Spirit, and Opportunity, this new version of APXS was built for MSL under the leadership of Dr. Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph, who is the principal investigator for APXS.

Gellert also heads the APXS science team, which is composed of members from the University of Guelph, the University of New Brunswick, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, the University of California, San Diego, Cornell University, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Australian National University.

Scientists from Brock University, the University of Western Ontario and the CSA are also participating in the mission with CSA funding.

The CSA invested $17.8 million in the construction and design, primary operations and scientific support of APXS.

CSA managed the construction and development of the APXS with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

The University of Guelph provided the scientific direction for the design and engineering support during the development.

This week Curiosity took its first colour picture, an image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment as it landed.

“If HIRISE took the image one second before or one second after, we would probably bee looking at an empty Martian landscape,” said Sarah Milkovic, HIRISE investigative scientist.

“When you consider that we have been working on the sequence since March and had to upload commands to the spacecraft about 72 hours prior to the image being taken, you realize how challenging this picture was to obtain. Guess you could call us the closest thing to paparazzi on Mars.”

The spacecraft is able to steer itself through the Mars atmosphere with a series of S-curves manoeuvres similar to those used by astronauts piloting space shuttles.

A device called the ChemCan uses lasers to vaporize thin layers of material from Martian rocks or soil up to nine meters away.

The rover’s Radiation Assessment Detector will test radiation levels on the surface of Mars.

The data will be vital in planning human exploration and will test the planet’s ability to harbour life.

The ChenMin, an X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument will examine sample collected by the robotic arm and it is able to identify minerals rocks and soil.

kevin.connor@sunmedia.ca