Curiosity Settles In For The Long Haul

PASADENA, Calif. — Engineers have used data from the ground and space to pinpoint NASA’s Curiosity rover on the floor of the Gale Crater near the Martian equator, while interplanetary photographers have started dealing with the dusty environment. The rover itself was in good shape at noon EDT Aug. 7, recharging its batteries with its plutonium-fueled radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) during the Martian night for the beginning of activities on its second “sol,” as the planet’s days are called ...