For a team of Boulder scientists, the precise landing of Mars rover Curiosity late Sunday night is absolutely rad.
A radiation-hunting instrument -- dubbed the Radiation Assessment Detector, or RAD -- was born and bred in Boulder and was scheduled Monday to be switched on for three-and-a-half hours at midnight, said Don Hassler, of Boulder's Southwest Research Institute.
RAD is designed to allow a team of scientists, led by Hassler, to measure the surface radiation on Mars.
The instrument, which is the first ever to measure radiation on another planet, also will be turned on for five hours Tuesday, after which it will begin routine observation next week, Hassler said.
Hassler, who is stationed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, celebrated the successful landing of Curiosity after it made its way through the thin Martian atmosphere for a precise landing.
The RAD instrument is among 10 on the rover. Hassler said he celebrated the landing with other teams of scientists who had been eagerly anticipating it after two years of delays.
"It all culminated last night, and everything just went so smoothly," he said. "It was phenomenal. It was a testament to the genius and the skill of the engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at NASA."
The Southwest Research Institute originally proposed RAD in 2004 and began designing and building it in 2005.
The instrument combines charged- and neutral-particle detection capability over a wide dynamic range in a compact instrument.
As space scientists explore the potential of life on Mars, they also need to know the life-limiting factors on the planet. RAD can help by detecting galactic cosmic rays, solar energetic particles and secondary neutrons, Hassler said.
In Boulder late Sunday night, the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics hosted a "pajama party," with a live NASA feed of the landing and lectures from Boulder space scientists. About 300 people attended, some in robes and pajama pants.
Christine Sanchiang, a doctoral student in the University of Colorado's aerospace engineering program, was among those who attended and said she was amazed by the landing.
"It's a really big achievement -- I was really proud at that moment for humanity and engineering," Sanchiang said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or email@example.com.